Shattering Relations - Book 3
by X-Lisa-Anne-X
Summary: Avery Lola Rogers was getting better, or so she thought. Ultron was gone and the Avengers' were healing, but what happens when Ava goes missing? What happens in Nigeria when a mission goes wrong? This all started in one place and soon, there's going to be a war between friends instead of foes … but what will the outcome become?
1. Dawn of the Forgotten Past

**~ IMPORTANT ~  
If you have not read Book 1 [Alive but not Awake] and Book 2 [Saviors] you will not fully understand everything if you just start on Book 3. Please read Book 1 and 2 before number 3!**

 **...**

 **Disclaimer – I do not own Marvel movies, only Avery Lola Rogers!**

 _ **Comments about a love interest for Steve …**_ _Don't worry, Sharron will NOT be with him. I felt the relationship was forced and awkward too. I won't be having Nat with him, though, I actually like the idea of her and Bruce getting together (fingers crossed) so, what I have decided is bringing in a new OC (which you'll get a brief glimpse in this chapter) but Avery will still be the main focus of these stories!_

 **Summary: Avery Lola Rogers was getting better, or so she thought. Ultron was gone and the Avengers' were healing, but what happens when Ava goes missing? What happens in Nigeria when a mission goes wrong? This all started in one place and soon, there's going to be a war between friends instead of foes … but what will the outcome become?**

 **Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | Dawn of the Forgotten Past**

"I don't get it." Avery Lola Rogers shook her head. She was chewing on the food that was stuffed into her mouth that consisted of randomly ordered Thai food. She was sitting on a couch, leaning against James Buchanan Barnes as they stared at a television set. Her legs were bent underneath her and her chopsticks were pointing towards the TV – a confused frown on her lips, not understanding something in particular. "Are you sure we haven't seen this one before?" They had put on the first thing that came on and it was a film, actually, _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_. They had binged watched the entire Star Wars collection of movies, well, Bucky _made_ Ava binge watch them with him. She obviously wasn't too much of a fan.

They were close to the end of the movie and from what she saw, and it was basically the same – plot-wise – as the other movies she's seen today. Like, the _exact_ same … just different and more interesting characters that started coming into play.

"Nope." He shook his head with a smile, but paused, "Well, now we have – the credits are about to roll." Whether she wanted to admit it or not, it did look like she had at least enjoyed it a bit. She had been really invested in the movie at one point that she never realized that at one point, he left to go to the toilet, leaving her alone.

For the last month or so, they've been together mostly every minute of every day and slowly but surely, it's almost like time was beginning to slow between them – it was almost like they were living in the past again before everything turned to crap. That wasn't true, of course, but it was a nice change of pace and it was doing the both of them good.

They had a great time on their traveling plans and they visited quite a few states in America after all, but after a while, they did begin to miss New York so after a few weeks of traveling, they made their way back home. And now, they were living in the Avengers' tower and were currently residing in Ava's room. In front of her bed was a comfy couch big enough for three people and in front of that, there was a nicely sized flat screen. Most nights Bucky never even used his own bedroom anymore, but there were some nights where Ava did need her space and he respected that, but on those nights he did lie awake like a fool, hoping she'd come over to his room instead.

The Avengers' building wasn't actually in New York itself, but rather on the far outskirts and away from civilization since it needed a lot of land to go with it. Every one of the Avengers' essentially lived inside this building, except Thor, Tony, and Bruce who were currently MIA. Thor had gone back to Asgard in order to figure out who or what was playing mind games with them and as for Bruce, he was still missing because of the hysteria the Hulk caused a couple of months ago in New York. Tony had simply gone back to his tower and be with Pepper, healing after the aftermath of what happened a couple of months ago.

Nothing much has actually changed since the downfall of Ultron, but there were some significant differences within a few people. Ava, especially. She's been getting better but there had been times where she's nearly gone off the rails. Ever since coming back from the dead, she has felt different … obviously. She died – that would make anyone feel different. But sometimes, it didn't feel like the _good_ kind of different, but the _worse_ kind. It's like there's something hidden inside of her just waiting to come out, and that's the only thing these days that really frighten her.

She could feel it, there was something just waiting to come out. There were gaps in her memory and even though there had been a few new ones coming to her every once in a while, there was still something missing. And she knew it was important. There was always one thing that kept replaying in her head, it was like a memory that wouldn't finish playing.

…

 _A man in his late forties had his face inches from her own, his breath congealing with the smell of rotten fish that would make anyone want to puke. He wore dark cameo clothing of pants and a jacket while on his head was a bright red army cap – he was clearly someone who worked for Hydra, and this is a uniform that was used decades ago. This memory probably was from decades ago; Ava couldn't be sure. She was now strapped into a chair, a whirling device behind her and she could hear it getting closer._

" _Вы глупая маленькая сука!" (You stupid little bitch!) The man sneered into her face, a ruby red mark lining against his right cheek. "Я не знаю, почему вы даже попробовать? Мы имеем контроль над вами, и нет никакой возможности избежать того, что мы ждем Вас." (I don't know why you even try? We have control over you, and there is no escaping what we have waiting for you.)_

 _Winter's teeth ground together, "How about I put a bullet between your eyes."_

 _His lips quirked upwards, "You asked for it."_

…

"Hey-" The voice snapped her out of the daze she must have been in and she blinked. Her head had been tilted towards the TV screen within a stare, and not one that stayed watching or reading the credits in front, but one that showed James that she was trapped in her mind. Lately, there had been a lot of this going on and sometimes, he really wished he know what she was thinking. Ava turned to him, a little confused when she heard a distinct concerned tone in his voice. "You okay?" He asked with a soft voice, brushing his fingers over one side of her cheek before pushing back a few strands behind her ear. Last week Natasha helped dye her hair so now it more or less looked a lot like it used to before Zola got his hands on her. It was a light brown and after having it cut for the first time in years, it now rested with straight locks down to the middle of her chest.

"Uh huh." She answered with a nod, maybe a little too quickly but didn't think too much of it. Looking down, she noticed that she had no more noodles left in the box and that's when a knock suddenly sounded at the door, interrupting them. They both frowned but looked over to the door, wondering who was one the other side, however, the answer to their inner question was answered when a head poked through.

 _Wanda._

The young girl smiled when she saw them sitting together on the couch and secretly hid the smirk when she noticed Bucky wrapping his arm around the woman's waist. All her life, she's never actually been in a relationship – obviously. From childhood to just a few months ago, she was basically an experiment for the wrong side of the war. And seeing Bucky Barnes and the woman she again looked up to _together_ , it was sweet. She knew there were problems that still needed to be worked out but slowly, she could see the repairs being made – and that made her happy for them.

What could she say? She's an ideal hopeless romantic when it comes to watching those two. It felt amazing to know that this man _literally_ waited decades without moving on from Ava, [excluding the fact that he had been stationed in an ice cube for the majority of those years and the issue that no one actually knew that Ava had been alive all this time]. Deep down, she really hoped she'd meet a guy like James Buchanan Barnes, someone who will treat her right and be there for her no matter what. It's all about meeting the right guy … and hopefully, that one guy is out there somewhere, thinking the exact same thing as her.

"Ooh, Star Wars?" Wanda noticed the familiar line of credits flying downwards on the screen with the catchy backing sound to accompanying it. "Did you like it?" She personally didn't find it too interesting … okay, maybe the first one was when Luke discovers he's a Jedi and whatnot but that's it … really!

Ava's nose scrunched up with a small shrug of her shoulders, "It's very repetitive." She answered after a moment, "But it's okay." She leaned forwards and placed the empty box of Thai on the floor, hidden next to the side of the couch so no one accidently kicked it across the room and spill any small remains left over. She looked back over to her, "What is it you needed?" She wondered, feeling James put his arm back around her.

"Natasha's back." The redheaded female stated, leaning herself against the doorframe while the door next to her opened just a touch more. She sent a sheepish shrug combined with a little assertion, "And Pietro and I were kinda hoping you could teach us some more moves – Natasha's with him right now in the training room."

Avery's metal arm twitched with the need of action but she pushed the feeling down with force. It's something she's been having to deal with a lot more since the battle of Ultron had diminished and that's part of the reason why she knew there was something hidden inside of her, she just couldn't seem to fathom out what it was.

She suddenly felt a small nudge beside her, from James. "You should go." He said, getting her attention as she looked over to him instead. "I'll go find Stevie." His lip twitched upwards, "Maybe I'll challenge him to a couple of races."

Ava raised an amused eyebrow, remembering him say those exact words more than a few times now, "He'll beat you." She warned him lightly, "He has for the last seven times you've said that."

Bucky let out a small huff as he leaned back from her, taking back the arm that had originally been around her before placing that hand against his heart, pouting and pretending that statement hurt. "You have _so_ little faith in me, Avery Lola Rogers." He poked her in the side, "Just you wait, I'll have that brother of yours worshiping me by the end of the day." He promised with a puff to his chest.

Ava rolled her eyes, an amused smile playing on her lips. She got herself up from the sofa, "Uh huh." She nodded, looking as though she believed him but those two boys had such similar abilities that she really didn't know who'd win. Although, like she said, Steve had won the last seven times … that she knew of. "Whatever you say, Lieutenant Barnes." She teased while walking backward towards the door where Wanda still stood, who was watching their interactions intently.

Bucky stayed there on the couch while watching as the two women left the room, leaving the door open just a touch for him. He had a content smile on his face before a small laugh left his lips, shaking his head. Yes, it's taken a while, but finally, he can really see a lot more of the Ava that he used to know before the shit hit the fan. She was looking lighter and more carefree (in a sense) since they found her back at those old railway tracks with nothing but limited memories of her past. She's been through a lot, and by a lot, he meant the crazy kind. But even if she had gone crazy, he'd still be madly in love with her and more so no matter what the outcome would have been.

With a small sigh, he brought out something from underneath his shirt that hung from a chain around his neck. An engagement ring, and it's the very one Ava had given back to him before her overload breakdown in Tony's gym. Obviously, he hadn't gotten rid of it and nothing would ever – could ever, get him to do that. It's a piece of history and one he wanted to restore, but he knew time was still needed before that can happen. Yes, he and Ava were at a great stage in the rebuild of their relationship – one that they had officialised again as girlfriend and boyfriend just after they left on their travels.

As for marriage, they weren't there yet and he's okay with it … for now. There were a lot of hurdles to overcome first and most of them were on Ava's side, but he did also have a few too. He was still scared to death that he was going to lose her again like he did at the end of the battle of Ultron's army. Yes, she had woken up and thank whatever god is out there that she did. But what if she hadn't? It never really occurred to him that after she came back, she could have easily been lost again. It came to mind several times, but he forced himself to never revisit that possibility again because in the moments she laid on her bed completely lifeless and cold, his heart and soul had shattered into a million pieces.

But, he was going to make damn sure that never happens again under his watch because last time, her death had been completely _his_ fault and he wasn't going to let that happen again.

…

"You need to keep your guard up." Natasha scolded, letting her grip slip from around Wanda's neck even though it was very light in the first place. She back up slightly while the tired younger girl moved away from her, rubbing her neck uncomfortably. They were currently in one of three training rooms in the Avengers' building and this one was specifically centered for sparing matches rather than weapons training and/or teamwork building.

The room had foam flooring while there was a thin layer of cushioning against the walls … just in case someone gets thrown into it, for instance. But they weren't doing anything like that with Wanda and Pietro because the goal for them included basic self-defence when it came to hand-to-hand combat. The twins had amazing powers and that's what they're mainly going to be relying on, but if for some unknown reason something gets in the middle and powers aren't accessible – then that's when the physical stuff comes in.

So far they've been succeeding with the basic training and slowly but surely, the goal was rising to get them better and physically fighting. But to get where Natasha and Ava were, it would take years of training to get that far and their training had been a lot more intense than what was currently being advertised.

Ava stood to the side, leaning against the single table in the room while Natasha worked with the twins on the mats. Occasionally she would step in and take over for the former spy but she was okay with watching for now, and she didn't want her inner demon thinking that this was an actual fight in progress and go all out. She hasn't been in a good and proper hand-to-hand fight in nearly a month now and it's been making her antsy … she didn't want to hurt the twins or Natalia.

It did feel odd standing off to the side because her mind kept picturing all that while ago where they were in different situations. Natasha was a teenager and being trained by the KGB (and her) and the twins were in the process of becoming weapons for Hydra and in each of them, she had been the one to train and/or assist in any way as the Winter Soldier. Those were the constant memories she couldn't stop from rising to the surface whenever she looked at either of them.

"And your feet are far too together and in line." Ava added, noticing that Wanda kept shuffling her feet closer and close together rather than the supportive stance she should be using. If her legs are far too close together, it makes it easier for the enemy to trip her over and if they're far too in line, then it'll be far too easy to simply topple her over.

Wanda let out a small groan of frustration, "Urgh, I'm never gonna get this." She moaned quietly. They had been over the same sequence over again and again … and again. She just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. She was almost tempted to just say she'll stick with her weird mind powers and wing it if she had to do anything that required hand-to-hand combat. But stopped herself, her rational mind pushing away the irrational ones quickly.

"You will." Pietro encouraged his sister while going over to stand next to Ava, knowing his sister liked to downplay herself a lot. "It'll just take practice." He had actually gotten the sequence down a couple of days ago but he had been practicing a lot away from the mats. He wouldn't say it out loud out of fear that he'll get slapped around the head … hard, but his sister had never been the best in physical sports – she had been the one with the brains while he had been the most active one as they grew up. Before the experiments, she always had her nose in a book while he was kicking a ball around in the park.

Ava tilted her head as she looked at Wanda, a thought suddenly popping into her mind, "Wanda," She started, getting the three occupants in the room to turn to her. Her voice was curious yet it held a certain measure of knowledge to it, "How does it feel when you use your powers?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

Wanda frowned, not understanding. "How do you mean?"

"When you use your powers." Avery started, pushing herself off the table before slowly padding towards the younger girl. "Does it feel instinctive? Like something inside of you instantly protects you without your mind actually thinking through it?"

Wanda blinked, thinking through the question thoroughly before an answer came to mind. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." She answered, nodding her head a little while remembering back to the instances where something like that actually happened. "But, what does that have to do with hand-to-hand combat, though?"

"Because fighting with your fists is exactly the same." She stated, stopping in front so they were head-to-head. "Your body has _instincts_ and to be a great fighter, you need to be in tune with them … you need to _listen_ to them without fear that you'll screw up. If you screw up; you get back up and try again no matter how much it hurts. Anticipate the moves your opponent will make and instinctively attack at the perfect time."

"And your brother's right." Natasha continued with a small shrug from the side, remembering the similar advice given to her many years ago by her. "Practice makes perfect, but once you get a good combination of the two, you have a good base to start with."

"You're already influencing your powers with instincts so what you need to work on is combining them with the skills Natasha and I teach you in here, and then it's just like memorizing a monologue..."

…

Steve Rogers leaned back against the bench he sat on in Central Park. After winning several rounds of races against his best friend Bucky, he hopped onto his motorcycle and traveled into the city, passing by Brooklyn as he went. Funnily enough, this was the exact area and seat he brought his sister to just weeks after finding her at the railway tracks. Just weeks after his mind confirmed that she was indeed standing there in front of him and wasn't just a hallucination.

He had been staring out towards the small lake in front of him when he felt something furry attack his leg. His head jerked downwards in surprise, and he frowned when he saw a Golden Retriever pawing at his limb. He/she had a golden coat that shines against the sun and if he was correct in saying, the dog looked very young, maybe even 4-7 months old given the size and hyperactivity that was being shown. The dog was puffing with his/her tongue leaning out that dribbled a bit of drool over his pants. With a grin, he did move forwards and started giving the dog some attention, wondering where the owner was.

"Amber!" He vaguely heard a female exclaim with exasperation and when he looked up, he saw a woman running towards him with a leash in hand. Steve had to blink and take a second look – she looked very … cute. Her strawberry blonde hair just hung below her shoulders and her eyes were like a coral blue - they were stunning. She had to be in her late twenties and was wearing what a typical person would – a pair of denim jeans and a blue long sleeve top that was just a bit darker than her pearly eyes.

"God, I am so sorry about her." The woman profusely apologized, bending down to put 'Amber' back on her leash before she could run away again. "I've been trying to get her to stop running away but maybe coming to a park with so many distractions _isn't_ the best idea after all."

Steve seemed to snap out of it, letting out a small chuckle to hide his stare, "Oh no, it's fine." He assured her, shaking his head before giving Amber one last stroke, "I love animals and especially dogs." He said with honesty. When he and Ava were younger, they had wanted a dog between them, but obviously, due to certain circumstances, that didn't happen nor would have happened. "How old is she?"

The woman's shoulders heaved downwards in relief, but answered anyway with a returning smile, "The devil is almost 6 months." Giving the dog some attention when she tried to jump at Steve again. She scratched underneath Amber's chin, pacifying her for now. "Mostly she chases after people with food." Silently wondering why her dog chose to run after this guy on the bench instead of the man just standing a few feet away with a hot dog in his hand, mustard spread against the side of his lips. That would look a lot more appetizing from a dog's perspective.

And suddenly, she realized that she had been forgetting something. She held out her hand politely and at this point, she was clearly looking at him properly, "I'm Sophia. Sophia Manning." She had a hard time not staring at those fully built muscles under his short sleeved shirt. And, that overall body structure of his made her heart beat faster than normal. She swallowed hard.

Steve could feel a fluttering feeling inside as well, "Steve." He answered back, completely glad that he chose to come to the park today after all. He shook the hand the smaller yet gentle hand, "Steve Rogers."

…

"So, did you win?" Ava was lying in her bed, the covers draped over her while next to her was the man that she loved. Her body was against his own, her ear resting against the continuous beat of his heart. It was probably close to midnight by now, maybe even later by the time they got into bed because over the last couple of hours, everyone had basically stayed up and wasted away the time. And now, they were actually the only two people left in the building for the night and it should feel lonely, but it didn't. Steve had gone out somewhere with Wanda and Pietro while Natasha and Vision decided to spend some time together. Tony was still away at his tower like usual because these days, he wasn't really an active Avengers' member like they were.

James hummed while his eyes stayed closed, he was actually very sleepy but was awake enough to hear her question. He brought her in closer, the palm of his hand cupping her hip.

"The race against Steve."

"Ah … no." James opened his eyes with a small tired chuckle and a shake of his head. He looked down at her, holding her body close to him even more, "He beat me another four times and I _seriously_ don't know how he does it." It was annoying because he hated losing.

"Hmm … so…" Ava traced her human finger against his chest, one that wasn't actually covered by a shirt. His skin tingled from her action. This is how he usually went to sleep most nights, just wearing a pair of joggers and sometimes socks included. She was currently wearing a pair of plaid shorts and a tank top, again, what she'd usually wear at night. "…I'm sharing a bed with a … sore loser." She was looking up at him, wondering if he'll take the playful bait with her innocent words. An old memory of something similar she used to do came back to her and it made her smile, and obviously it was working because a little smirk was starting to cross his lips as well.

Within seconds, Ava suddenly found herself trapped underneath the body that was suspended above her and a face just inches away from her own. Her legs were open while he rested between them. James raised a daring eyebrow, but a frisky one, "A loser, huh?" He challenged with a grin, leaning closer, feeling a blinding heat steadily rising between them. Any sign of tiredness he had originally was wiped away. "Well, maybe I should show you how much of a winner I am." His head lowered towards her neck, starting to pepper small butterfly kisses against her skin, "Game on…" He breathed into her ear before heading lower, and lower …

…

Earlier the next morning, Ava was lying on one side of the bed while a pair of arms were wrapped around her waist from behind, spooning her from that position. They were covered with the duvet with nothing on but a pair of undergarments, the blanket being the only thing shielding them from the world's eye view. In her sleep, Ava began twitching, especially her metal arm. Something in her mind started sparking some old strings within in her head, unraveling them without her permission…

…

 _A man in his late forties had his face inches from her own, his breath congealing with the smell of rotten fish that would make anyone want to puke. He wore dark cameo clothing of pants and a jacket while on his head was a bright red army cap – he was clearly someone who worked for Hydra, and this is a uniform that was used decades ago. This memory probably was from decades ago; Ava couldn't be sure. She was now strapped into a chair, a whirling device behind her and she could hear it getting closer._

" _Вы глупая маленькая сука!" (You stupid little bitch!) The man sneered into her face, a ruby red mark lining against his right cheek. "Я не знаю, почему вы даже попробовать? Мы имеем контроль над вами, и нет никакой возможности избежать того, что мы ждем Вас." (I don't know why you even try? We have control over you, and there is no escaping what we have waiting for you.)_

 _Winter's teeth ground together, "How about I put a bullet between your eyes."_

 _His lips quirked upwards, "You asked for it." Suddenly a small little red book appeared in his hands, making Winter begin to fight in the chair she was strapped in with a furiousness gleaming in her eyes. The book had a gold-plated star on it and inside, it held the one thing Winter herself feared. This book was the one thing that held what could truly control her inner demon._

 _ **Longing**_

 _Winter started to struggle within her bonds, but it was doing no use, she was trapped just like all the other times she can barely remember._

 _ **Rusted**_

 _ **Seventeen**_

 _ **Daybreak**_

 _She could feel herself slipping away, anything she knew was slowly being drowned by a darkness._

 _ **Furnace**_

 _ **Nine**_

 _ **Benign**_

 _An emotionless feeling quickly began to spread within her veins and continuously, an emotionless killer rapidly rose to the surface. Her eyes shut tightly as the transformation began to complete its job._

 _ **Homecoming**_

 _ **One**_

 _ **Freight Car**_

 _Winter's eyes slowly opened and she stared into the distance with nothing but a coldness in her eyes._

 _ **Good morning, Soldier.**_

In reality; Ava's eyes slowly opened with a sudden blink to them, her eyes quickly adjusting to the light. But, something was different, there was no light or fire or even tiredness swishing around in her orbs, there was just simply … nothing. Ava blinked once more and suddenly, she felt absolutely nothing – no emotion nor drive.

All she knew is what to do.

 **XXX** – Note - **XXX**

 **AH! I'm back with the third book in 'The Evolving Winter' series! So, I know I said that this would be out soon after the movie comes out on September 13** **th** **, however, I was able to find the movie online for free and without any kind of subscription of annoying adds popping up in the middle … ha! I jumped for joy when I suddenly found it and I'm so happy! Eep! LoL. Just a warning, updates will probably about the consistency as it was for Saviours!**

 **Anyway, let me know if you loved it or not because I seriously love REVIEWS … wink-wink … nudge-nudge…**

 **The first chapter to 'Everlasting Bond' will be out within the next few days so keep a good look out! – if you follow/fav me I'm pretty sure you get an email notification for any new stories/updates I post if I'm not mistaken.**

 **And last but not least …**

 **FOLLOW, FAV, and REVIEW!**


	2. Lagos, Nigeria

_**I've decided to finish Shattering Relations before I start Everlasting Bond, my mind kept getting confused when I bounced between the two, lol. I hope you like this chapter because it's been a while since the first was uploaded.**_

It's snowing buckets outside where I'm living … nooo! Not until Christmas, please!

Enjoy the long-awaited chapter …

 **Captain America: Civil War Fanfic | Shattering Relations | Lagos, Nigeria**

 **6 Months Later**

Sitting in an outside coffee shop, was Wanda Maximoff, stirring a teaspoon through a warm cup of tea. The sound of the spoon bounced at the insides as she surveyed the surroundings as she was taught. Tapping the utensil on the edge twice, she placed it on the plate underneath the cup. She lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip.

"All right," A voice appeared in the small speaker in her ear, asking her a question, "What do you see?" It was Steve's voice. This was technically both a test for Wanda and a mission at the same time. The Avengers had a job to do today but it wasn't every day they had chances like this. The usual things they dealt with on a daily basis were actually stopping the usual crimes, nothing out of the ordinary. This time was different because they were dealing with past Hydra Agents and a possible nuclear event that could happen if it isn't stopped in time.

But it wasn't just that.

It's been three months … three months since a certain someone disappeared without a trace. The disappearance of that someone put all the Avengers on high alert. Not in a really bad way, just a worried way. Avery Lola Rogers. She was last seen with Bucky and he was the last to see her from what anyone could tell. He didn't know what happened and even now, he still didn't really understand what went on that morning. It was a mystery but mostly, they just needed to know she was okay. The Avengers were hoping today would also bring some answers to them regarding her whereabouts.

One of the ideas and fears included the fact that the leftover Hydra Agents may have done something to her, broken all that had been repaired since her finding.

 _They just needed to find her._

Wanda placed the cup back on the saucer before replying, "Standard beat cops." She tried to be inconspicuous, just as she was taught, but she also didn't want to look like a complete loony who talked to herself. She kept her head down and her lips facing the table as much as she could when it came to speaking into the radio. "Small station. Quiet Street." She glanced over her shoulder to briefly watch the two male cops leaning against their squad car. They were eating their lunch while conversing with each other, but it was obvious they were still currently on duty at the same time.

"It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?" Bucky questioned this time, sounding ready.

Wanda discreetly brushed her thumb on the top of her lip, pretending to be scratching the area, "Cameras."

Bucky nodded to himself from where he was hiding across the street, inside an empty apartment. He was currently looking out the window, surveying the area with a bird's eye view, just as Steve and Sam were. "Both cross streets are one-way."

"So compromised escape routes," If the roads were one way, these Hydra agents wouldn't be able to go down that direction if traffic was coming the other way. Also, it applies if they needed an escape route themselves.

Wanda glanced down at the papers she had been gazing through as she waited for everyone to get into position. All of them were showing one story in particular. It was the person/group they were hunting down today and stopping. A dozen or so police stations had been robbed as of late, and now they believed that something more detrimental was about to be stolen from Lagos. One of the main suspects was Brock Rumlow, the Hydra agent that should have died under the collapse of Shield's headquarters.

"Which means our guy doesn't care about being seen and he's not afraid to make a mess on the way out." Steve inputted, following along just as everyone else was. He pushed the curtains aside just a touch, his head just poking through, "Alright, you see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"

"The red one?" Wanda questioned but knew it was the one he was talking about anyway – there was only one down this road. "It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof." Natasha finally made an input into the conversation as she casually leaned back in her chair. She was just a few meters away from where Wanda was sitting, playing with her own coffee that hadn't been touched since the waitress made it for her. "And that means private security … which also means more guns … and finally, it'll give more headaches for somebody." She paused, "Probably us." It made sense.

Finally, she took that sip of that coffee – she was sure going to need it sooner rather than later.

Wanda's features shifted into a look that couldn't quite tell something, "You guys do remember I can move things with my mind, right?" Double checking but it was mostly just a sarcastic comment.

"You need to remember that looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature, Wanda," Natasha replied, knowing for a fact that the young girl had been told multiple times already. Mostly by Ava, but occasionally from her. "Just like in the event of having to use the hand-to-hand skills Ava and I taught you." Bucky and Steve's heart clenched at the use of Avery's nickname but didn't say anything. Natasha felt it too, but she had learned a long time ago to push aside her feelings and focus on the job.

A small chuckle resonated from the earpieces, "Has anyone ever told you you're a little paranoid?" Sam finally spoke and you could tell there was a grin on his lips just by the tone of his voice. On the top of a ten-story, he started walking towards the siding of the roof. He was looking over the edge from where he was stationed – he was just a few blocks away from where the others were.

Natasha raised her eyebrows, "Not to my face." She countered, and just for kicks, she added some dare to her voice, almost as if she were going to tease the bird man. "Why? Did you hear something?"

As much as Steve would have loved to hear a good banter from the two, now was not the time to be playing around. They had a very important job to do – a mission to complete without any mess. "Eyes on target, folks." He advised, getting them back on task, much like a leader would do. "This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months and I don't want us to lose him this time." They couldn't afford to lose him again, lets put it that way.

Sam scoffed, his eyes darting across all the streets he could see and not see thanks to his specialized goggles. "If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem." He commented, "He kind of hates us."

"Well, we hate his guts too," Bucky couldn't help but say, a little anger mixed in with his tone, "So I guess we're even." Ever since Ava had gone missing that day, he's never really been the same man, and it wasn't even back to the person everyone knew before anyone knew Ava was alive. Bucky was more distant, less fun, and all he did was focus on the work and training. Steve could still see his best friend in there on any given day, but the James he knew was starting to slip away. Losing Ava, the way they did, it was taking a toll on him.

The sound of instinctive voices and a lot of cars honking were suddenly taken notice by the two American heroes. Looking out the window towards the source of the noise, they each noticed a red garbage truck that was jam-packed full of rubbish. People were shouting and honking at the vehicle because it was barging through all the cars that were horrendously parked. Steve's eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Sam…" He prompted, "See that garbage truck? Tag it."

Sam followed his order and initiated one of his many little devices. It was like a little mechanical bird as it detached itself from his backpack and started flying over the buildings. He used the machine attached to his arm to control the bird, guiding it towards the truck he was going to tag and check out. As he positioned it underneath the vehicle, he used a voice command to give him an x-ray view of what or who was inside. The weight analysis was extremely over its maximum capability and the sensor picked up just one human being inside. But this man was holding a gun to his hip, he was obviously not a simple garbage collector.

"That truck's loaded for max weight." He revealed the findings to his team members. "And the driver's armed."

Natasha felt a small frown lift on her lips, and things within her head quickly clicked into place. "It's a battering ram." She stated, having seen this method more than a couple of times in her days. A battering ram was an efficient way of breaking into somewhere, especially if the place holds a maximum security. A very heavy garbage truck would do the trick.

The American heroes had the same line of thought.

"Go now," Bucky ordered, twisting in his place, starting to sprint out of the apartment he had been squatting in for the observation.

Wanda had to make a double-take, hearing the order in surprise, "What?" Their line of thought hadn't exactly caught up to her yet.

"He's not hitting the police," Steve told her, doing the same as Bucky was and rushing out of his own hiding spot.

Across town, Sam jumped off the building and started falling downwards, thanks to gravity. However, before he could hit the ground and turn into a splattered pancake, he initiated his mechanical wings and efficiently, he glided back up into the air, feeling the wind brushing against his face as he flew.

Wanda nearly scrambled to her feet when she noticed Natasha also getting to her feet. She had to keep up as they headed towards the place the garbage truck seemed to be heading towards. Now was the time to be getting ready for a fight.

…

 **INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES**

Inside a small security cubical by the front entrance of the Institute for Infectious Diseases, a young man was sitting in his chair, a gun strapped to his chest, leaning back as the world went by. He didn't think anything would happen, nothing ever did with this job. It was becoming kind of boring. Maybe he should quit?

He had been thinking about what he could get for lunch when his hearing picked up a low rumbling that started getting closer and closer. With his brows furrowed, he turned towards the noise down the road. Beforehand, he hadn't been alert and thought nothing of it when a garbage truck was heading towards him. It was going a little too fast, but he still didn't think anything of it.

That was until a man suddenly jumped out of the driver's seat and the truck seemed to pick up the speed somehow.

That garbage truck was going to drive through the entrance.

With widened eyes, the man's fight or flight instincts kicked in and he practically dove out of his seat and ran out of the cubical. Away from where the truck was going to hit. He had gotten out of the way just in time as the overweight vehicle collided with a barrier. This caused it to flip upside down, getting thrown into the institute's general direction. It caused a lot of damage because the thick concrete barrier was broken in two. There were large chunks of it scattered throughout the lot after the booming noise went down.

No one had the chance to react in time because suddenly, two sunshine colored trucks sped into the lot that had silver bars attached to each trim. It was obviously a part of their plan since they completely ignored the damaged littered across the ground. The fact that it was in a quick and timely fashion was also another pointer. Wheels skidded across the gravel as they turned sharply, following them while being surrounded by a thick cloud of dust from the broken concrete underneath. The tires were throwing the particles up into the air and fogging up the air a little.

One of the trucks continued into the inner grounds where one would assume was for people walking into the building. The other truck halted just outside the interior gate, the one that hadn't been smashed to smithereens. Not even a millisecond had passed when the backside of the trucks opened and several men with guns jumped out. They were all dressed in black uniforms with no tags whatsoever, and clearly, they were wearing gas masks on their faces too.

They were intending to do something that would make them needed.

They knew what they were doing. It's what they were trained to do and it's what they've planned for weeks before this day even came.

Bullets started firing in all directions and the people who still hadn't figured out what was happening just yet, dropped. Multiple gunshot wounds to various parts of their bodies. The men who had just jumped out of the trucks did not stop, not even for a second pause. All but one of the men were now out of the vehicle. They had a mission to complete and nothing could get in the way of it. _Nothing._

There was one man still lingering in the back of the truck but he looked different from the rest. He had different accessories covering his uniform and more weapons with higher grades. The stature of his posture was more prominent - it was dominant, powerful, and he spread out an aura of authority.

He was clearly the leader of this operation.

Jumping out of the truck, finally, he started moving forwards towards the five-story building with his men huddled around him, almost as if they were protecting him in a fortified cocoon. He lifted his gun, almost as if he were ready to shoot if need be as they approached about ten feet away from the building. Everyone who had been outside before was running away, knowing they stood no chance against these people, especially with no guns on them themselves. The uniformed men who guard the institution tried their best but ended up with a bullet in their chest for the reward.

The men in black turned towards the building and five different style guns suddenly aimed up towards the windows of the third floor. They weren't machine guns but looked to be something that can shoot cans of something.

The shots fired simultaneously. Flying through the windows on the third floor were gas bombs. Inside the buildings, the gas started working immediately, the air started to thicken into a deep ashy green smoke that began covering every inch of the floor. Some of the employees were able to stumble out in time, but many of the others began dropping to the floor, coughing as if their lungs were on fire.

Outside, the leader smirked under his shielded face.

…

A team of men made their way up to the third floor while nine individuals stayed outside to cover. Their guns were still drawn, their eyes and ear peeled and ready to notice anything coming their way. The men stationed outside were no longer wearing gas masks but were now wearing helmets that similarly resembled a motorcyclist's helmet. One of the men was hidden behind a now-damaged pick-up truck, and that's when something sparked his senses.

There was a whooshing sound coming from somewhere above, near enough above him.

His gun followed the motion of his body as he turned the other way, but it was too late because something flat and metal collided with his face. The last thing he felt was his body smashing back into the pickup truck he had been hiding.

Bullets started firing around the newest member to the party and a fight broke out.

Captain America had been the new arrival and dropping to the ground just beside him was Lieutenant America. He came down with a rougher landing than his partner did. Wanda had used her powers to fling them over to the short distance and barriers so it made an effectively quicker way in getting inside.

Steve withdrew his shield back before shooting it off towards one of the gunmen that were firing bullets at them. He started picking them off one by one from the ground. Bucky, however, went higher and started taking out the ones standing on cars or hiding in the furthest of places.

The men were knocked out within less than twenty seconds.

"They have body armor," Bucky spoke with a deep breath, speaking into the receiver connected with his ear. He was letting the others know what they were in for as they approach them, "AR-15s." He could see a couple more of those soldiers running up to their position and some were even appearing on the roof. They had done a solid count as they were chucked over the wall.

"I make seven hostiles." Steve followed on the subject, not including the men they had just knocked out.

On the roof, Sam arrived in his usual style of grace and kicked two of the hostiles in the chest. Given their surprise to see him, it was easy to get in the first punch. As they both got up, each grabbed their handguns and were about to fire, until Sam beat them to the chase. He emptied his round into them both.

"I make five." Sam corrected them, essentially letting them know that he had taken out two from the roof.

At this point, Wanda had finally made her appearance from the sky with a mist of red energy surrounding her body. It was more prominent as she approached the ground beneath her feet. She had to use her powers to ensure she wouldn't end up like a pancake. As she touched the ground, a uniformed man came out of nowhere and pointed a gun at her. Instinctually, she guarded herself with a barrier of red mist and the bullets that came towards her suddenly dissipated into nothing. At the earliest convenience, she shot a pulse of energy towards the man trying to kill her and wrapped it around him like a rope.

"Sam." She prompted the man to finish the job. He knew what to do as soon as she threw the hostile towards him in the air – he flew down and knocked him out with one single kick. It wasn't that she couldn't simply knock the man out, it's just that she'd rather not. Everything that's happened over the past year or so was still weighing on her, especially everything that happened during Ultron's destruction of Sokovia. It didn't really help that Pietro wasn't with them and that he was halfway across the world. She felt sad and alone because she didn't really have anyone to talk to anymore.

There was Natasha, but she didn't see the woman as the talking about normal things type of girl. The only woman she knew she could really talk to was Ava/Winter. That woman had been the only female she was in contact with since the experiments had begun all those years ago. Now that Ava's not here, she didn't really know what to do anymore other than just followed the orders of the Avengers.

"Four," Sam stated, touching his feet to the ground just a couple of feet away from Wanda. He was making both a mental and verbal tally of how many they had left to take down.

Sam used his flying metal bird to detect how many people were inside the building, specifically on the third floor where all the smoke was pouring out. A red ID laser filtered through the floor and counted how many were in there. "Rumlow's on the third floor." He told Bucky and Steve, knowing it was their part to go up there anyway. The gas wouldn't likely affect them as it would for him, Wanda, or Natasha. They were simply more human than they were, and that's just stating an unsaid fact.

"Wanda." Bucky looked over to the young girl, "Just like we practiced." Knowing it would take her powers to get them up to that level without having to sprint up a load of stairs. It really helped to have someone with Wanda's kind of skill on the team, it just sucked that her brother wasn't currently here right now. It would have helped a ton. And the fight would have most likely been over by now.

Wanda nodded, knowing what she had to do, but there was another pressing issue on her mind. "What about the gas?" She inquired, thinking it would be up to her anyway to get it out of the building. She could do that.

"Get it out," Steve answered for him, confirming her thoughts.

Wanda didn't waste any time getting them up there because just as easily as she walked, she threw the American heroes towards the shattered windows on the side of the building. Well, Steve made it through an already broken window, Bucky had to endure smashing through a pane of it to get in. His shield did a good job propelling the shattered fragments in the opposite direction on himself.

"Uh, oops." Wanda winced guiltily to herself with a cringe, seeing Bucky go through the unbroken pane instead. The one that had already been smashed was right next door it.

She couldn't dwell on it for too long because then she realized the gas was still built up inside and possibly growing. Shaking her head, she got herself into gear. Building up enough power, she started projecting it to surround the edges of where the smoke had reached. As quickly as she could, she started drawing it out towards her outside and without really meaning it, every single window in the building shattered into a million pieces.

The gas was everywhere by the looks of it and had reached every floor by the time she had gotten to it.

Behind, Sam protected her by taking on the remaining guards on the grounds. There were two of them left and they were hiding behind cars while taking the shots.

 _Wimps._ Sam scoffed in his head because here he was, out in the open, while they were hiding behind a large object for projection. Having had enough of using his gun and seeing that there was no likely way that the two would come out and play, he quickly twisted around to where Wanda was standing and had his wings create a shield behind him. Looking down at the device wrapped around his wrist, he tapped on two little red dots before pressing a small button that said 'launch'.

Two small missiles shot out of his metal wings and hit the exact two spots the men had been hiding in, effectively eliminating them.

As soon as Wanda had assessed that all the gas was out of the building, she shot her arms up and the direction of the gas went straight up into the air like a funnel. She made sure to raise it as far as she could so it couldn't affect anyone from the ground level. There were townspeople to think about.

…

As Rumlow stepped out the third floor of the building and onto one of the balconies. He looked up and noticed the tornado of smoke. Under his mask, he smirked again but there was a bit of irritation in his hidden facial expressions, "They're here." He muttered to himself, but also to the two left behind him who had survived. He had wondered who was storming in on their operation.

This was going to be fun but it's a shame he's here on a mission.

…

Inside the building, Steve let out a puff of frustration, mirroring exactly how Bucky had been feeling for the past couple of weeks. The vial that was in the containment area was missing. It's a biological weapon, one that was now presumably in the hands of Rumlow, the former Hydra agent they needed to catch before any more life could be lost.

"Rumlow has a biological weapon," Bucky told everyone over the earpiece connection. He started following Steve out of the glass room as they headed towards a place the man could have escaped from.

…

"I'm on it," Natasha replied over the radio, the sound of a rumbling engine backing her voice. She was on a motorcycle, heading straight for the truck that was now being filled with the men in black uniforms. As she got closer, she made the bike make a sudden turn and dragged it towards the ground. Because of this, the bike eventually started sliding towards the truck, the engine still running so that the tires kept spinning.

The bike cut one of the men down before he even had a chance to realize what was happening.

Natasha got straight to work without any playtime. The men that were left standing started shooting at her, but somehow, much to their dismay, she seemed to have luck on her side because none of them seemed to touch her. Natasha threw an electrifying device at the one man she was running up to, sending him down as if she had tasered him with a high-voltage stun gun.

The soldiers went down one by one and each was going to leave today with a different brutal mark on their body. They tried to take the Black Widow down, but none succeeded, not even remotely close. Natasha had been on a roll until the last guy grabbed her hair and pulled her head back with a snap of his wrist. She grunted, feeling the pressure ringing her neck. Briefly, she looked up at the man who dared take her on but she noticed he wore different things to the other guys and suddenly, it clicked. She knew who this was.

 _Brock Rumlow._

She tried to fight him through the thick armor he wore but as she tried to finish him off just as she had with the others, using her electrifying bracelet to his neck – she was shocked to see that it hadn't worked. They were on top of the truck, facing each other face to face.

You could almost see the smirk playing on the man's face under that mask, "I don't work like that no more." He growled in a deep and deadly tone. He had once again grabbed her by the hair again after having lost his grip before. Not even giving her a second to make the next move, he shoved her downwards into the manhole, situated on top of the vehicle the men were supposed to be retreating out of.

Before Natasha could react, she only heard four more words until the hole closed behind her falling body.

" _Fire in the hole."_

Rumlow had dropped a grenade into the truck with her and the two men that were all seated and ready to go. They seemed to jump up in surprise when they saw this little ball drop, including Natasha. Their instincts kicked in immediately. They tried going for the hatch above, the one that had just been closed and locked from the outside, but Natasha was quicker in kicking them back, acting out on her own instincts. Within the last few seconds, before the grenade went off, she grabbed the second soldier and used him as a shield, just in time for the small explosion to go off.

Both men were either severely injured, or they were dead, Natasha wasn't too sure. All she could do was cough as the smoke traveled down her lungs. She was lying on the grass after having been blasted out of the back door of the truck. Knowing there was still the mission to complete, she started to get up on her hands and knees, still coughing to get some clear air back into her body.

…

Steve and Bucky ran out of one of the third floor's balcony's and looked over the side, hoping to see where Rumlow could have gone. Before they even got a chance to look, they suddenly saw a large gun pointed towards their direction from another truck that extended from the top.

A large grenade shot out of it, heading straight towards them.

They had just enough time to throw up their shield to protect themselves before the exploding device hit Steve's shield rather than Bucky's. They both went flying backward from the blast as it exploded on impact.

Bucky was the first to scramble to his feet, knowing that wouldn't be the only grenade being thrown at them today. He helped Steve up just before he heard the gun go off again. They moved out of the way just in time before another bomb blasted behind, narrowly missing them but the heat was terrible hot against their backs.

They had been sprinting for the stairs but the next thing they knew, another blast hit them from behind and because it was so close, the impact threw them off their feet and their bodies shot forwards. There was nothing to stop them as they deseeded out of the building itself, falling out of one of the previously broken windows.

Both experienced quite the tumble before they finally hit the pavement.

Painfully, they hit edges of lower level roofs during their decent. But finally, the concrete ground. "Ah, _crap_." Bucky grinded his teeth before starting to cough. The breath in his lungs having been punched out by the impact. "Now that hurt."

"Yeah, let's not try that again." Steve agreed with a pained groan, feeling a dull pain resonating from his left shoulder. He had landed on his side, without his shield protecting his bones from the fall. Knowing his mic was still on, he started speaking specifically to someone on the other side, "Sam, he's in an AFV heading north."

Bucky was the first to stumble to his feet, moving over to help his best friend out, "Come on," He held out a hand, placing his other on a bended knee. "We gotta get going and catch the bastard." Anger was clearly in his voice when he called the man a bastard.

He really didn't like Rumlow - not one bit.

…

Inside the moving truck that was trying hard to get out of town; Rumlow inserted the biological weapon into a small secure flask and handed it to one of the four people still left from his team. The lucky four who have survived so far during this mission.

"Take this to the airstrip." He instructed, knowing he wouldn't be following them after all. He had a debt to repay with either one of the two certain American heroes – Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. The two bastards that _literally_ dropped a building on him and ruined his entire life and career. "We're not going to outrun them." He turned to the driver, "Lose the truck."

"Where are you going to meet us?"

"I'm not."

…

Sam caught up with the truck just a few seconds after it crashed into one of the fruit stands in town. There were stands all over the place, each selling different things from each other. It was like a market, and all the townspeople were there buying what they needed from just those specific places. They had no idea what was happening or what was about to happen around them.

He flew in and stood himself on top of a car. He used his specialized glasses to find the people they were looking for within the dense crowd. "There's six of them, they're splitting up." He found the targets, pairs each going separately different ways from each other.

...

Natasha had recovered from the blast at this point and was riding in on a stolen motorcycle in order to catch up with the truck. She knew exactly which where she was going because she saw two of the men heading left. "I got the ones on the left." She told Sam and the others, signaling them to go after the other four targets. She started jumping over obstacles and running past anything else that got in her way, trying to catch up to her own two runaways.

…

Bucky turned his head towards Steve as they ran side by side. They were also running through the market at this point in time, dodging both people and objects. "Steve, you go after the last two." He told him, "I've got Rumlow." Steve didn't argue and started receiving directions from Sam on whereabouts he should go.

…

Sam was flying, unlike the other who were running, to catch up with the two he had picked for chasing after.

…

Bucky had to barge through a multiple amount of people, but finally, he came across a small space where he saw gear littered across the ground. Parts of the accessories and uniform that he had seen Rumlow wearing. He started cursing to himself, thinking Rumlow had stripped down and taken off in another completely different direction.

"He ditched the gear," Bucky said out loud, not caring if anyone over the radio had heard or not. The next part he said was direct to the others because he knew Rumlow couldn't have had the biological weapon on him after all. They were playing a game of cat and mouse by the looks of it, and that pissed him off to no end. "It's a shell game now." He told them, "One of Rumlow's lackeys has the payload."

Suddenly, a clink sounded in the air and Bucky felt something attach itself to the shield he held by his side. Looking down, he quickly took notice in the fact that there was a ticking bomb now strapped to his shield, beeping away with a blinking red light. Everyone around him gasped in horror as the device appearing out of nowhere. Driving on reflexes, he did what needed to be done and threw the shield up into the air. He threw it high enough so that when it did go off, it didn't hurt anyone within the nearest vicinity.

People screamed as the small bomb went off and others just simply started to run away from the alarming sight.

Out of nowhere; Bucky suddenly found himself grunting as his body was punched forwards, by a force connecting hard with his back. He was thrown through a couple of the stands until he crashed to the ground with a pain ricocheting around his back muscles. His body rolled a couple of times before it finally came to a stop. He looked up from his position to see someone marching up to him with tense shoulders, and a guarded uniform still covering himself.

It was Rumlow – the man he had been looking for.

"There you are, you son of a bitch," Rumlow growled underneath the mask that was still covering his facial features. He re-activated another device on his hand, the one he had used to punch Bucky away with a single powerful punch. With the help of everything covering his body, he felt and looked more powerful than Bucky was. "I've been waiting for this."

This time, people around the area weren't sticking around to find out what was going to happen – they were all running away as fast as they could, adrenaline and fear coursing throughout their bodies.

Bucky couldn't get up in time before the next hit came at him. The next thing he knew, another solid punch was slammed into his face, throwing him even further away by a couple of meters. He crashed through several picnic tables and chairs on his way back to the ground level.

He could see Rumlow striding after him again.

This time, though, he was able to get out of the way just in time for the next attack to come. He rolled away and jumped to his feet, ignoring any pain he had gained during just this mission alone. Between the two men, they started throwing heavy punches, most of which Bucky did avoid before throwing his own.

Rumlow just seemed to enjoy egging the hero on as they continued.

"This is for dropping a building on my face," Rumlow said into Bucky's face at one point during the fight, before getting in another shot to the stomach.

Bucky barely heard it but he was sure Natasha's voice over the intercom had told everyone that she had the merchandise Rumlow had been trying to sell off to the highest bidder.

At one point, he ripped off one of the mechanical arms Rumlow had been using to beat him to a pulp. But, unfortunately, it didn't really do much good.

The criminal just activated the secondary arm that looked just as worse than the first because it had a long metal blade sticking out of it. Bucky narrowly missed it but did get in a nasty punch of his own – this caused Rumlow's body to fly this time and land on the ground with his own thump. The Lieutenant was breathing heavy at this point, feeling a little out of breath by the encounter, but was clearly nowhere near done with this fight if need be.

Bucky had reached Rumlow just as the man crawled up into a kneeling position. He also looking tired by the fight but he was still smiling as if there was a plan still running around in his head. Bucky grabbed onto the man's uniform, even as shock appeared in his features when he took in what Rumlow actually looked like underneath that hood. There was no mask covering his face anymore and everyone around can now see what he truly looked like and what past damage had been done to his face.

"I think I look pretty good, all things considered," Rumlow commented on his own appearance, smirking. It didn't really bother him anymore as much as it used to, especially since he was currently on a revenge streak as it was.

Bucky ignored the damage done to the man's face but didn't feel any remorse for technically causing it – the man deserved it as far as he was concerned. "Who's your buyer?" He questioned with a hard tone, wanting to know who would want a biological weapon and who would want to go to these great lengths to get it.

Rumlow started to laugh, but it wasn't one of just amusement, there was glee in it too, "You know, she knew you." He started, grinning like a maniac, "That lovely chick of yours - Avery." Bucky's face went still and so did the rest of his body. Rumlow enjoyed every bit of it. That man knew which spots to press in just the right way.

"What did you just say?" Bucky's tone started to turn deadly, leaving no room for messing around. When it came to anything with Ava, especially this time, he was not letting anyone get away if they knew something that may have happened to her. He tightened the grip around Rumlow's uniform even though the man didn't seem to struggle out of the hold, not one bit. He looked comfortable where he was on the ground, looking up at one of the American heroes.

"Oh, she's a pretty dame, isn't she?" Rumlow continued, wanting to hype up Bucky as much as he could. "She remembered you of course when they took her again. I was there. She got all weepy, pretty pathetic if you ask me." He tried to act serious, but there was that mad grin still forming on his lips, "They put her brain back into the blender and before they did, she wanted you to know something."

Bucky couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, but he prayed these words were all just rubbish. If he was telling the truth, it meant that Hydra had gotten their claws back into her, after everything she had been through in order to get away from them. It would have all meant nothing.

"She said to me…" Rumlow continued, playing through his words, "...Please tell Barnes, 'When you gotta go, you gotta go'…" At this point, his hand was slowly reaching for something attached to his side. His eyes finally narrowed as they stared up at Bucky, "And you're coming with me." He finally growled, showing off what he was really planning to do.

Bucky didn't even get a chance to realize what was happening until Rumlow pressed the button. He had a bomb attached to himself, wrapped around his entire body, underneath the uniform he wore. This was his plan all along. Bucky had thought he'd be going down with him as the blast set off, but something blocked him from getting hurt. A red mist suddenly appeared out of nowhere and covered Rumlow's entire exploding body with it – it formed around him like an egg that kept the blast contained within.

Rumlow hollowed in pain inside it, feeling the agonizing heat slowly burning away at his skin and melting down his organs. Bucky's head snapped behind him to see Wanda standing there, using her powers to keep the blast contained. She was struggling, though, you could see it on her face and the ways she was moving.

Wanda tried to control it, but it was too much, it was more powerful than anything she's had to contain before. She had meant to just throw Rumlow and the explosion up into the air but she completely forgot about one thing, there was a tall building just there – she tried to stop it, but it was too late.

 _BOOOM._

Everyone down below gasped in fright as the impact of the explosion hit several higher floors in the building, igniting a fire across three sections. Wanda herself stumbled back in horror, realizing what she had just done, what she had just caused. _All those people._ She thought with pain. _Oh god, what have I done_? She felt her eyes welling up with tears as a hand reached to cover her mouth.

Smoke started streaming out of the building and parts of it started falling to the ground. Everyone began screaming, running away again but even faster than when Bucky and Rumlow were fighting each other. They were racing away from Wanda, the one who had most likely ended many lives with just one action. Whether she meant to or not, it didn't matter to them.

"Oh, no." Bucky breathed to himself, staring up at the carnage they had created. He knew this wouldn't end well but he also knew it wasn't Wanda's complete fault. She's just a kid, and she had saved his life and the others on the ground. He just prayed that were either none or not many people that had been up in the blasted sections of the buildings, for everyone's sake.

Breathing heavy, he tapped the earpiece, "Sam…" He started, still staring upwards as the fire started to ravage through the three floors. Debris continued coming down in a steady stream. "… we need Fire and Rescue, on the south side of the building."

All they could do now is anything they could to minimize the damage that was caused and hope for the best.

 **X – Author's Note – X**

 **Well, this is officially the start of the movie and I'm hoping it was worth the very long wait?**

 **I actually do a lot of procrastinating when it comes to chapters with fighting scenes. I feel like I'm crap at them so it takes me longer to write them than I want to. It was just one of the multiple reasons why I haven't been able to get this chapter up months ago like I wanted.**

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	3. MIT University

**Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | MIT University**

" _Try to remember the kind of September…"_ A middle-aged woman sang with the soft tone of a piano backing her words, _"When grass was green."_ Her fingers elegantly pressed on the keys in a way that showed she had played this song a hundred times before. She knew what she was doing, and it was beautiful the music she could create with just two instruments.

Suddenly, a man slightly older than her came into the room from the door behind her. He was tightening the tie around his neck. He wore a black business suit that screamed authority but there was some humbleness behind his posture. His pearly white hair was combed back, and even the small mustache above his mouth looked brushed through. The woman, on the other hand, was also dressed nicely. They were going out by the looks of it. She wore a satin blue woman's coat with a matching skirt and a pair of simple black heels under her feet. Her make-up was pristine and she was dressed as well as her husband. Her jewelry also showed expensive taste as did the way they looked.

The woman didn't turn away from her piano but spoke to the young man hidden underneath the large red, fluffy blanketed cocoon. "Wake up, dear." She told the hibernating boy, "Say goodbye to your father."

The boy woke up just as his father lifted the blanket off him and threw it over the back of the couch.

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" The father questioned, and his tone wasn't one of complete happiness. There was a little disappointment in it, but the man did still love his son – he just didn't know the best way to show this properly.

This young man was Tony Stark, but he was much younger than the age he is now.

Surprisingly, he still had a red Santa's hat on his head, despite having fallen asleep at some point.

The young Tony Stark gave a chuckle at the comment, but it was a little more sarcastic than it really should have been. He didn't see his father making a joke, "This is why I _love_ coming home for Christmas." He commented, standing up from the couch with a bit of tiredness still in his eyes. "Right before you leave town." This time, there was resentment in his tone. This happened practically every year, or at least, for the last four to be exact.

The house was always empty on Christmas Day and to be honest, he hated it.

In the background, the mother continued to play her soft music as the two men talked behind her.

"Be nice, dear." She told her husband still without looking behind, "He's been studying abroad."

"Really?" The father raised an eyebrow, not impressed by a certain part of his son's life, "Which broad? What's her name?" This was a common mentioning in this family. He always heard more about his son's partying and lifestyle ways than the academic rewards he should be getting to live up to the family name. There was also a new girl in his son's life every few months, he goes through them like a stick of deodorant. It needs to be replaced every time the last finishes it's purpose.

Tony just sent a humorless smile, "Candice." Which was true, it was his girlfriend at the time. She only lasted a couple of months in the end, like the others. He loved his father, really, but he was just so hard to stand most of the time.

"Do me a favor." His father started in return, "Try not to burn the house down before Monday."

Tony, in his usual dealing mechanism, went into a party planning mood, "Okay, so it's Monday." He said, double checking even though he already knew what day they were supposed to be coming back. He brushed passed his father as he continued, "That is good to know, I will plan my toga party accordingly." But, in reality, he wasn't actually going to throw a party. All he usually did this time of year while they were away was curl up in his bed and watch movies – maybe design some stuff in secret that he may make later in life. He did have big plans, whether his father knew or not, it didn't matter to him these days.

He went and stood behind his mother who was still sitting at the piano, playing her calming tunes. "So, where are you going?" He asked, looking nonchalant as he stuffed his hands into his bottom pockets.

"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway." She replied, smiling lightly but a little piece of her heart wrenched because they were leaving their son, yet again for Christmas. There was also another reason as to why they were leaving this time, although, it was something Tony had already figured out.

"We might have to make a quick stop-" Tony's father started voicing, his hands also pocketed as he paced over slowly. He was looking down as his son interrupted him in the middle of his sentence, looking guilty about something.

"-At the Pentagon." Tony finished, "Right?" He glanced at his mother and father as they both sighed at his guess. He noticed the looks, but more specifically on his mother, "Oh, don't worry." He waved his hand, trying not to look irritated but the sarcastic comments he usually uses to distract himself overpowered it, "You're going to love the holiday menu at the commissary."

His father looked at him with scrutiny, "They say sarcasm is a metric for potential." He noted, sensing a lot coming from his son at this second – combining it with most of the boy's life at the same time, "If that's true, you'll be a great man someday."

 _If only he knew._

Tony made a little scoff under his breath as he walked away, keeping his back towards his father as the man left the room to grab the bags. He was disappointed, angry, and more than a little upset that he couldn't go with them on the trip this year – again. In the past couple of years, it had been his fault that they weren't home for Christmas because he never knew what he was doing at the time until the very last minute. But this year, he gave his parents plenty of notice. And still, they were going to the Bahamas and taking a trip to the Pentagon of all places at the same time.

It didn't feel fair.

Tony leaned against the opposite doorway as his mother ceased making the delightful melodic music that came from the piano. The woman looked up, but not towards her son specifically, "He does miss you when you're not here." She told him softly, using the tone a mother would comfort her child. She turned to him and started getting up from the chair she had been sitting on, "And frankly, you're going to miss us." She said with knowledge hidden behind her words.

The young Tony looked down from where he stood, feeling his loving mother come up beside him and place a dainty hand on his shoulder. He had to listen as she continued, her voice feeling like a heavy weight pulsing in his brain. Her voice was clear to remember, and so hard to hear at the same time. He longed to replay this moment repeatedly but it would do him more harm than good.

"Because this is the last time we're all going to be together." Her son looked up towards her as she shouldered her small bag, giving him a sympathetic look, "You _know_ what's about to happen."

Tony swallowed hard and shifted in his stance uncomfortably as he nodded. He knew exactly what was about to happen and it wasn't making him feel any better at this given moment.

This wasn't a true exact replica of the true memory because parts have been altered to fit the desired scenario.

"Say something." His mother pleaded with him quietly as her husband walked back into the room with a bag on own right shoulder and a suitcase in his left hand. "If you don't, you'll regret it." And he did regret this moment, it's why the older Tony kept revisiting it again and again. Trying to get him past the fact that he needed to accept that he hadn't been the best son before they died.

It did take a couple of seconds before Tony finally looked in the direction of where his father stood, connecting eyes with his old man.

"I love you, dad."

His father smiled slightly hearing his son say that and gave him a small nod of acknowledgment.

Tony turned back to his mother; the woman he missed more than anyone he's lost in this world, "And I know you did the best you could." His words made his mother's heart lift as she placed a goodbye kiss on his cheek.

The younger Tony had to watch as his mother and father walked out of the 3D imaging memory converter with a heavy heart because he knew this would be the last time he'd ever see them again. On Christmas or any other occasion. Behind him, the older and currently real Tony Stark stood with dark shades on his head that matched the black suit and clothing he wore underneath. He was looking down as the scene finished playing, still feeling undeniable crushed by the fact that this ending had never really happened. It was just a façade for what really happened.

In the real memory; the younger version of him had kept the pissed off state going throughout the conversation and never spoke nicer words. He never even said he loved his father and he barely even said a goodbye to his mother. It killed him every time he thought back to it and partly - this is why his invention has helped him in some way.

" _That's how I wish it happened."_

The current Tony Stark began to say as the flashback froze in front of an atrium full of people. MIT students. He was currently in the middle of giving a lecture to the school he used to attend, intent on bringing some people inspiration for the field he had wanted to desperately succeed in, back when he was just a young man himself. He also needed something to keep his mind of several things these days, including a certain redheaded woman that walked out on him a couple of months ago.

Not that he blamed her.

"Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing … or BARF." He chuckled a little for the show as he walked forwards, tracing through one of the many old memories he had looked back on with his newly-built device, "God, I really gotta work on that acronym." A few people among the crowd laughed with him, "An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories."

Stopping next to the materialized piano, he tried putting out the candle that was lit in the memory-form. It took a few blows but it did eventually dematerialize.

"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but…" He paused, finally taking off the glances that have mostly helped him come to terms with his parent's demise. The 3D memory started to fade around him, no longer having a picture to project for everyone in the audience to see. "Plus, $611 million for my little experiment? No one in their right mind would've ever funded it." It was harder than it looked to get funding for projects these days. Investors are more interested in the financial gain of a project for them and not what it could bring for the future of humanity.

He placed the glasses on the blank set that was left behind once the 3D memory was gone. All that was left behind were real boxes and a plain white piano that wasn't really a true instrument. It was an object made to look like one for the memory to properly work and for it to feel more real.

Pushing aside the projected show he had put on and walked towards the edge of the stage, speaking to the audience as a whole.

"Now, help me out, what's the MIT mission statement?" He asked the audience who should clearly know by now, well before even starting at the school of their dreams. They began following his speech as he carried on, _"To generate, disseminate and preserve knowledge."_

"And to work with others." Tony continued, gesturing to them all, "To bring it to bear on the world's greatest challenges and well, you are the others." He started pacing from each side of the stage as he talked, keeping them engaged. "And, quiet as it's kept, the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. And plus … most of you are broke." This caused many of the people in the room to laugh - because it was true. They'd never be as rich as THE Tony Stark was – it was simply a fact.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry. Rather, you _were_." Tony backtracked what he said, doing as he had planned long before coming to the University this day. Many in the audience began to look bewildered, and for good reason, but the explanation was about to come very, very soon.

"As of this moment … _every_ student has been made an equal recipient of the inaugural September Foundation Grant." The students in front of him gasped with eyes widening with shock, "As in … ALL of your projects have just been approved and funded."

The entire hall broke into applause and cheered, including the students and teachers standing around the edges. Never, in the history of MIT, has someone like Tony Stark ever offered something like this to the people of their school. For some, it was a miracle and for others, just a dream come true because they could build the things they wanted to now with a large fund in their pockets.

Tony felt his heart filling with something he could only describe as happiness by the fact that he was changing hundreds of lives, maybe even the world if some of these students were to create magnificent things. He looked down at all the faces staring at him in amazement and it made him feel at peace in that moment, knowing he had done something right, a thing that feels like he hasn't done in a very long time.

"No strings, no taxes, just … _reframe the future_!" He loudly read from the teleprompter showing up in front of him, one the audience couldn't see. These were all his words, but just so that he didn't have to read from a piece of paper, he had it put up on a machine where he could read and keep his face looking towards the audience. "Starting now."

Suddenly; Tony froze on the stage as he witnessed the next part of his speech come up for him to read. His heart stilled when he read someone's name written on it. It was the name he had specially told someone to take off before he came up on stage just before coming out.

 _Pepper Potts._

Everyone occupying the room didn't understand why he stopped and simply stared out in front of him. They thought he had more to say but he just stood there, almost as if he were staring into space and trapped within his own mind.

Tony eventually snapped out of it as quickly as he could and placed a smile without feeling on his face. He pretended he hadn't just nearly made a fool of himself and rushed to finish the lecture, "Go break some eggs." He said with a final note. He didn't leave it another moment before taking off towards the side of the stage, done for the day and no longer in the mood to speak to anyone right now. The memories of his past lover started to come back to him, weighing him heavily down to the floor.

As he left with a wave of goodbye, the racket of another round of applause led him out along with a mountain of cheers. As happy as Tony felt before, he now felt awful again after seeing Pepper's name.

Much to his displeasure, one of the more irritating teachers met him backstage with an annoying amount of enthusiasm. The feeling he really despised as of this moment.

"WOW!" The man exclaimed with a massive grin on his face, his eyes bulging out just because of how he felt. He didn't give Tony a second to prepare himself for the bombardment. "Just _WOW_! That took my breath away! So much money, WOW!" With the amount of time's he's said 'wow', he'll probably scorch the dictionary placement of where that word used to be.

Tony calmly let the guy who controls the volume and speakers take off the wire he had been wearing during his lecture. He tried to block the sounds the teacher was still making, but the guy was making it very hard to accomplish that. All he wanted to do was get out of here.

The teacher who wore a simple gray sweater underneath a dress coat and thick black glasses chuckled nervously as he began to give the billionaire a question. "Out of curiosity…" The man started, following Tony as he started walking away. Tony was heading towards the elevators, or what they'll soon think, the restrooms, "Will, um, any of that grant be made available to faculty? I know 'Ooh, gross' but just hear me out…"

Tony didn't hear him out – more like tuned him out.

A young blonde woman suddenly appeared before Tony and she had the look of apology written all over her face. She appeared next to them just as he began to ask the man where the Restrooms were. He wasn't going to use them, it was just a ploy to get away from this place so he could leave. He's said and done his bit, now he wanted to leave and go back to his tower for lonesome company.

"Mr. Stark," The woman started to say, her tone completely apologetic as she started to profusely apologize, "I am _so_ sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Miss Potts had canceled and they didn't have time to change it."

Tony had never seen her before and she hadn't been the one he instructed to take Pepper's name off the machine before the show. He should say it's okay, it happens, but he wasn't really in the talking mood anymore. "It's fine." He said instead with two simple words. "I'll be right back." He lied, brushing past them and thankfully neither the teacher nor the woman followed him out.

…

He walked out of the backstage door and was greeted by a blast of cool air that made him calm down … a little. The hallway was near enough empty and that made it quiet - something he really wanted right now. As he approached the elevator just down the hall, right next to the washrooms, he met a woman in front already seeming to be waiting for the mode of transportation he wanted to take.

She was a fairly small black woman with dark clothing and a short dark brown bob for hair. Glancing over to Tony as he came forward, she had a distant and broken look in her eyes, one that Tony had seen many times before in a lot of other people. One being himself on a daily basis.

They were standing in a noiseless hallway until she decided to speak.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people." She commented as she broke the silence. She kept her head staring towards the silver elevator door with a passive look on her face.

Tony just gave a small shrug at the mention of what he had done just a couple of minutes ago, "Ah, they deserve it." He replied with honesty. Every young person deserved the chance to follow their dreams and hopefully, he's been able to give many of them that chance today. "Plus, it helps ease my conscience." He couldn't help but say as an add-on.

There was another moment of silence before the woman's head finally turned towards him, "They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt." She disclosed, giving a small one-shouldered shrug, "But … if you got the money … break as many eggs as you like. Right?" Using the last standing remark he had given to the students before leaving the stage. She had watched the entire thing backstage, hidden away as best she could. There was something she wanted to get into Tony Stark's head and this was the only opportunity she's been able to have in months to do so.

Tony couldn't help but agree with her there.

Glancing towards the elevator, he wondered why it was taking so long to come down to this floor. It wasn't like there was much traffic now and there were only a couple of floors it needed to travel between. It was when he noticed that the elevator button wasn't shining like it should. It made him pause. There was no light surrounding it at all. Creasing an eyebrow of wary confusion, he moved forwards slowly to press it in and in return, the light finally came on.

Tony looked over to the woman before cautiously asking, "Are you going up?" His body and mind started to feel more alert given the circumstances he's had to live with for many years now. And since she had been standing there, alone and waiting, it was almost as if she had been waiting for him. That's the situation he was beginning to grasp at.

The woman shook her head, "Oh no, I'm right where I want to be." She answered, sounding vague but the response started to ring alarm bells in Tony's head. He's had too much experience to know that it may not mean a good thing if someone says that and does certain things. She went to reach into her handbag but abruptly, a hand gripped at her wrist tightly out of reflex to stop her from reaching in further.

The snappy reflexes inside of Tony were thinking she was pulling out a gun.

The woman looked up at him but didn't seem startled by what he had done - she just stared at him, displeased at the fact that he was touching her and nothing else.

Realizing what his hand had done; he started to loosen his grip but didn't immediately take his hand of her limb. "Sorry," He apologized, "It's an occupational hazard."

She just stared into his eyes, "I work for the State Department." She explained, feeling his grip finally fall off as he retreated his hand back to his side. She could tell he was still wary, though, she didn't blame him. There was something else she did blame him for – and others, but mostly it was Tony Stark. "Human Resources." She was all dressed and ready for work and this was just a pit stop to visit Tony Stark before he rushed back to his tower to hide away again.

"It's boring-" She continued, never looking away from his face, "-but it enabled me to raise a son." She felt her voice waver slightly at the last word. Her son's face flashed before her eyes and a painful tear began clawing at her heart. "I'm very proud of what he grew up to be." She finally took her hand out of the bag she had been reaching into and grabbed the picture before slamming it onto Tony Stark's chest.

Tony jerked in his spot but stayed where he was, looking down to see a photograph of a boy now plastered on his chest. It was being held in place by the woman's hand.

"His name was Charlie Spencer." Her voice shook, feeling her eyes ring with tears. "You murdered him ... in Sokovia."

Tony just stared at her, not knowing what to say. What could he say to that? He couldn't deny it because it was partly true, the Avengers' had played a part in countless deaths that day and most of it was on his shoulders. He had created Ultron and if he hadn't, the whole thing would have never happened.

It was _his_ fault.

"Not that it matters in the least to you." Tony felt nails digging into his chest from her hidden anger, but he didn't feel pain. He just felt numb, "You think you fight for us?" She questioned him, narrowing her eyes this time, "You just fight for yourself and whose supposed to avenge my son, Stark?" She shakily took her hand away from the photo as Tony grabbed it from her, "He's dead … and I blame _**you**_."

Tony stayed stood in his spot even as the elevator doors opened for him and closed a minute after. He watched as the woman walked away towards the staircase and all he could do was stare down at the photo of a young man who had his life so full ahead of him. A young man that could have changed the world, just as he had thought about the MIT students doing with their newly gained grants.

Tony clutched hard at the photo in his hand.

 _Charlie Spencer._

 **~ NOTE ~**

With Shattering Relations, I'm going to try my utmost best to update once a weekend (twice if I'm feeling up to it) because you guys have waited a long time for me to restart my writing process again that you really deserve it for being extremely patient with me. Thank you, everyone, so much for the continued support with the Avery Rogers series! You guys are the absolute best! I feel like I don't say this often enough.

 **CJ/OddBall:** Haha, thank you so much! That makes me feel better : ) When Bucky and Steve (or just one of them, I haven't really decided yet) goes to find her, yes, she will be in Bucharest. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!


	4. 117 Countries and a Proposal

**So, I've noticed I've put myself into quite the pickle. I just remembered the fact that I killed Peggy off about a year ago now, given the timeline I've been using. Peggy's death was supposed to be in next two chapters … oops. Oh well, I'll think of something.**

 **Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | 117 Countries and a Proposal**

The Avengers' building was quiet throughout and everyone left just kept to themselves. Bucky, on the other hand, was just sitting in his office staring at a computer screen that kept replaying the same videos over, and over again. He was leaning back in his chair, his neck resting against the back while his arms were crossed against his chest. For weeks after the Lagos incident, he still couldn't get his mind off what had happened. Just as everyone else couldn't, especially Wanda.

The young girl had been cooping herself up in her room for 95% of the time. Sometimes when people passed, they could hear the TV playing in the background. A few people tried to talk to her, tell her it wasn't her fault – but she wouldn't listen. All she would say is that she wanted her brother but he hasn't been reachable ever since he left the United States to travel around the world. And not for fun or business. As it turns out, the Maximoff siblings may have a distant relative. They found a lead to this person in Italy but from the last Wanda had heard, Pietro was tracking this person further south.

It wasn't much, but it was hope that they weren't alone (blood-wise).

" _11 Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers' and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month."_ The thin blonde reporter from MSNBC said as flashes of the lasting devastation were shown on the screen. There were medics carrying out people who were injured, but most would catch the site of the multiple body bags being carried out of the building. A map of where the location popped up on the screen as she continues, " _The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos, when the attack occurred."_

The headline of the news piece said ' _Avengers' Indictment?_ ' and how the world is reacting to the violence inflicted.

Bucky watched as a man replaced her, one he had seen a couple of times now. It was the current King of Wakanda; King T'Chaka. He was around his mid-fifties by the looks of it, he had pearly white hair and overall, he was a bit overweight. He was dressed nicely in a suit and spoke diplomatically into the single microphone stationed in front of him. He was sitting at a long rectangular table, clearly talking to the press that was standing in front of him as the camera captured his speech.

" _Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil and not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them."_ The camera zoomed in on the King's face and he looked partially angry. He was demanding that the Avengers' be accountable for the deaths of those 11-innocent people, despite the devastation they had prevented with containing the biological weapon, _"Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all."_

Before the reporter could say anything more, Bucky decided it was finally time to stop watching what the world had to say about them for now. Picking up the remote, he pressed pause to make the videos stop playing. Shaking his head, he sighed and threw the gadget back onto the table. Leaning forwards with his elbows touching the table, his hands rubbed downwards on his face tiredly.

He understood what everyone in the world was saying, he did. They made a mistake, everyone does. He himself made the mistake of freezing when Rumlow made the comments he did on Ava. The woman he loved that was still missing. He shouldn't have done that; his pause had given the bastard the opportunity to make the move that he did. If Bucky had been more attuned to the situation he was in, he could have prevented those eleven lives from being lost that day.

It wasn't Wanda's fault for those people ending up dead. If it's anyone's, it's his own.

His head has just been so out of place since Ava went missing that he's surprised the messing up hadn't happened sooner. He just needs to know where she is.

Is she safe? Does Hydra actually have her again just as Rumlow had mentioned? He didn't want to believe it but every day she stays out of the limelight, the possibility of her still being out there, free with her newfound memories is rapidly diminishing each day.

He had no idea what happened that day, everything went in such a blur. It kept playing in his head repeatedly and bugging the hell out of him at the same time. He suddenly lifted his head from his hands as sounds pierced his room walls. It was a man talking and it sounded like it was coming from a TV.

" _They are operating and above international law."_ The man said. Given the choice of words and whose TV it's likely to be coming from, Bucky already knew what this person was talking about. _"Because that's the reality if we don't respond to acts like these."_

…

Wanda was sitting on the edge of her bed, one leg pulled up to her chest as she continuously stared at the TV screen in front of her. The TV was sitting on her chest of drawers, turned to face her by the half-wall window. Her right hand was resting against her chin, covering her mouth and nose. The man on the news kept going over the same things, showing the same moments of footage that was left from the chaos she had created back in Nigeria. There was a small tear in the corner of her eye, one that refused to be dried away no matter what.

She knew deep down she shouldn't keep watching these bad things being said about her – but she couldn't help it. She just kept watching, partially hoping it would just become a bad dream and that this was nothing but a terrible nightmare. But it had already sunk in – she was at fault for killing eleven innocent people that day and those lives would fall heavily on her shoulders every day.

It was a lot for a teenager to take on.

" _What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri-"_

The TV screen suddenly shut off, reverting it back to its black immobile screen. Wanda blinked in light surprise and it was then that she recognized footsteps by her bedroom door. She must have left it open at some point, or she was just too invested in what the newsman had to say about her to listen to the surroundings.

She didn't move but just waited on her bed in the same position she had been sitting in for the last hour or so. She didn't turn away from the screen, still picturing the comments the public had to say about her. Her tongue ran over the front of her teeth as the layer of salty water thickened over her pupils.

"It's my fault." She declared emotionally, feeling a heavy weight on her heart as she sniffed a little.

Wanda knew there were only two people that were truly likely to come see her rather than the rest. Bucky or Steve. Her brother wasn't here, Natasha was probably in the training room again, and everyone else was just … gone for the day. They had their own things to do and it wasn't like she was a child that needed constant supervision. Although, the public seemed to have a different opinion on that front.

Bucky was the one to announce his presence in the end, "That's not true." He countered her statement, shaking his head sadly. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed against his chest. He was looking towards her with the remote in his hand. She must have left it on the table next to the doorway at some point.

Wanda turned her head towards him but had a smile on her lips, though, it wasn't one of happiness, it was of shame and misery. "Turn the TV back on," She countered, with a sure look on her face, "They're being _very_ specific." The people on the news were clearly talking about _her_ majority of the time. They say her name, refer to her special abilities, and even refer to her as 'the kid'. They seem to ignore her brother completely but at this point, she was glad he wasn't involved in the bad public mess like she was.

"I'M the one who should have known better when it comes to Rumlow." Bucky shook his head at her words, pushing himself off the doorway before slowly making his way over to the bed. "And I'M the one who should have realized the guy was baiting me, long before you had to be forced to deal with it." Approaching the bed, he lowered himself into a seating position next to the young girl, sitting beside her. "It's just - … the moment he said Ava's name and what supposedly happened to her, I just - I lost it."

"People died." He continued, "And it's on _me_."

"It's on the both of us." Wanda finally corrected him, realizing that trying to take him away from blaming himself wouldn't work. Just as it wouldn't work for herself. It was the same with Pietro too, he also was too stubborn to take the blame away from himself when something bad happened. But she saw the point the super soldier was saying – they both contributed together to the deaths of the eleven Wakandans. It made her feel better about how to take what happened, but only a little tiny bit. It wasn't that much.

Bucky sighed as he leaned forwards, his elbows connecting with his knees, "This job…" He started, feeling the younger girl turn to him to look intently as he spoke, "We try to save as many people as we can and sometimes, that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, then next time … maybe nobody gets saved. We made a terrible mistake and we'll have to live with that for the rest of our lives. All we can do is learn from the experience and use it to prevent the next time from happening."

The room turned silent as Wanda took in what the American hero had just said – although, it was only for a couple of moments because a new guest had entered her private domain … unannounced.

 _Vision._

He suddenly appeared through the wall and was now standing near the doorway in which he should have entered from. Unlike what he usually wore for battle situations, Vision was wearing clothing a normal middle-aged man would wear to work, excluding the business coat. He wore a black sweater that covered a plain white dress shirt and the bottoms he wore were some gray work trousers. The others were more casual in what they wore, Vision usually was not.

The only person in the room who was mildly startled by the beings' entrance was Bucky but it was more of a surprised reaction. This wasn't the first time the guy had just burst through a wall without giving anyone a warning beforehand. But it was a first time for him to see the guy enter Wanda's room unannounced.

Wanda and Bucky looked over their shoulders towards the guy and each wondered why he had interrupted their conversation.

"Vis!" Wanda looked towards Vision with more of a scolding look, "We _talked_ about this." Edging her voice towards a knowing one because this conversation had already happened a couple of times in the past. She never liked anyone coming into her bedroom the way Vision did just unannounced. She liked to have the upper hand, just in case it wasn't someone she knew trying to get into her room.

It was unlikely – but it was a simple and effective precaution.

"Yes, but-" Vision felt the need to explain himself, defend his actions of bursting into her room via a wall instead of an already open door. He glanced towards the door, gesturing his arm over to it, "-the door was open so I just assumed that …" He stopped when he realized Wanda was just staring at him with a raised eyebrow and Bucky was just simply looking at him weirdly.

Vision cleared his throat, pushing away his argument for the better, "Lieutenant Barnes wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving." He turned specifically towards Bucky, "Captain Rogers has already been informed and so has Miss. Romanov."

"Right," Bucky nodded, remembering having requested that earlier this morning. "Thanks, we'll be right down." He sent the man a grateful smile for telling them. Tony had something planned that apparently needed to be looked at as a team. He never went into the details, so this would be the first time he was hearing about anything the meeting was going to be comprised of.

Vision gave a small smile accompanied by a nod, "Right, um-" He glanced over to the door again, "I'll … use the door." He said slowly, almost hesitating as he started walking slowly towards the exit. "Oh," He suddenly remembered, needing to mention something else that might be of importance, "And apparently, he's brought a guest."

Bucky's brow furrowed with confusion when this was mentioned. There was a curiousness in his eyes because Tony had never mentioned that anyone would be joining him, "You know who it is?" They weren't expecting anyone else but judging by the look on Vision's face – the visitor didn't look good for them.

There was a pause before the answer finally came, "The Secretary of State."

Nope. This couldn't be good at all.

…

Everyone was sat around the long table located on the third level of the building. The area was looking over the railing and towards a hallway that held multiple doors. This was the table where most of the serious discussions happened, whether small or big, it didn't matter. The Avengers' all had their places around the rectangular placement with their very own comfortable, highly expensive desk chairs. This place was separated from the rest of the building and was only accessible by a walkway across the room that was with the room, many feet above the air.

Around the table were two security personnel and standing at the end of the table was the Secretary of State. Thaddeus Ross. Tony, Natasha, and Rhodes were the only ones who had really seen the man before today so this was basically the first chance the others were meeting him for the first time. Unfortunately, it wasn't on a good note. All seven of the remaining Avengers' were watching as the older male started talking.

"Five years ago - I had a heart attack and dropped right in the middle of my backswing." Secretary Ross admitted, imitating holding a golf-racket in his hands while shifting his position to a sidewards stand. "As it turned out, it was the best round of my life because, after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something 40 years in the army had never taught me." Everyone was more than a little confused at this point, unable to understand where he might be leading with this. Their answer came soon after, "Perspective."

"The world owes the Avengers' an unpayable debt." The Secretary continued, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives … but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word … vigilantes."

Natasha didn't quite like the idea of him talking down to them, "And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" She asked, interested to know what his answer was. She couldn't quite tell what his purpose was for coming today – she couldn't quite figure it out. There was something he wasn't saying – that much she could tell.

Secretary Ross looked towards her, then glanced around the table as a whole, "How about … 'Dangerous'?" He respected the Avengers deep down, but realistically, they were posing as a threat if the wrong turn was taken. The Avengers' needed to be contained in some way or restricted – they can't just able to run loose wherever they pleased anymore. Yes, they had done a great service to this country – the world, even. But there needed to be a limit on what they could do. That's what he was going to be sorting out today, hopefully.

The room stayed silent.

"What would _you_ call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they chose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind"

The Secretary started slowly walking from his position with his hands attached behind his back. He began pacing around the table, looking down at the team as if they were children waiting to be scolded by their teacher for detention. In his previous place at the front end of the table, a large holographic screen appeared in front of all of them with a map of the world showing. The water areas were colored in black while the countries and all other land masses were shaded in a light gray. All over the world, there were several apple green dots littered about – pinpointed on different countries or continents.

The Avengers' could only watch as clips started to fill the screen the moment Secretary Ross announced the location names.

" _ **New York."**_

The first clip blew up on the screen. Appearing before them was one of the original creatures they had to face just after being announced as a team. It was one of those flying metal snakes that had come through the sky portal – an extension to the Chitauri race that was following, more of less, Loki – Thor's brother. The video continued as the worm flew between buildings, damaging them with a costly bill attached. The screams of the people below hit everyone's ears and the sound was on quite loud.

The video finally turned to the Hulk who was flying from building to building, clinging to the sides as if they were bars of a ladder. In the meantime, he was destroying things as he started smashing the villains. The camera that had captured this made it look as though everything was buried alive as rubble poured down from above.

James Rhodes was the first one to look away from the carnage – he was never in that fight, and wished that he had been given the chance since he had a suit specially made for that kind of fight. The video still didn't look good from any standpoint, though.

The video finally minimized back into the world map but the Secretary wasn't near enough done yet.

" _ **Washington, DC."**_

Bucky was the first to recognize what this video was from because it had been a memorable day for him. The memory would never leave him because it was around the time he found out Avery was still alive. The video showed the three Shield hovercrafts in the air – the ones Hydra had intended on taking over to rip away hundred of thousands of lives, possibly millions in the end or more.

The video played of people running away in fear, followed by each hover finally crashing to the ground in smoke and fire. One right into the body of water that was right next to Shield's headquarters.

This time; Sam looked away from the recorded carnage, just as a short clip of people getting crushed underwater started to play. He had always felt guilty about what happened in the end, about _how it ended_. He had been a part of taking those three planes down but in all honesty, it wasn't completely their fault that it happened in the first place. It could be shifting the blame, but there was a lot of fault to go around, not just to them. They were the people who had stopped a catastrophe from happening. S.H.I.E.L.D was the main source of the fault for letting this happen, an organization he had never been a part of, and of course, it was Hydra's ultimate fault regardless.

" _ **Sokovia."**_

The Hydra mess was replaced with one of their latest faults – the Ultron mess Tony and Bruce had created in their very own lab. It hadn't been intentional for Ultron to become what it did, but it was still at most their fault in the end. They both knew it. Luckily they were able to stop the robot in time before the end of the world had become an occurrence.

People screamed in the video as everyone watched when Sokovia was lifted into the sky. It rose higher and higher on a town-size boulder. Buildings were collapsing on themselves and everyone at the table could take a wild guess to say that there may have been some civilians cowering in fear inside.

Vision turned away and now stared down at the table.

" _ **Lagos."**_

The latest mistake started playing on the screens – a more vivid and excruciating clip for Wanda appeared before her, ones much worse than the news anchors had been showing on their platforms. First, it was the explosion itself that was created by her powers, following that was all the carnage left behind by her mess. The dead bodies with their eyes still open, crying children looking for their parents, the sounds of the first responders – Wanda finally had to look away with shame, her eyes starting to water up again. She kept them in, though, needing to stay strong.

"Alright." Bucky finally spoke up in a demanding tone, seeing how badly it was affecting not just Wanda, but everyone else at the table. Not all the things this man was showing could have been fully prevented. There are always going to be fights were casualties are highly likely and it was never going to be completely possible that everyone was going to get out alive. Especially not with some of the things they've come across in the past couple of years. The Lagos catastrophe could have been prevented, yes, and they'll hold that fault till the day they die. "That's enough."

Secretary Ross knew his message had gotten across. So, with a turn towards one of his men, he motioned them to turn the holographic screen off.

The screen finally went away along with all the clips of the past.

"For the past four years," He finally started on the reason why he was here today. "You've operated with unlimited power and no supervision."

Steve glanced over to Bucky because they both seemed to be thinking the same thing. The way this was going, it didn't sound good for any of them. They kept silent as the man continued to talk, wanting to see how this was going to go.

"That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate." Secretary Ross paused, looking to each of the Avengers' one by one, "But … I think we have a solution." He reached out for the very thick book one of the suited men passed to him. Carefully, he placed it on the table, sliding it to Wanda first. The book itself was probably more or around 500 pages and was held together with a navy-blue binder on the left side. On the front was a world symbol with a name written above.

" _The Sokovia Accords."_

"It's been approved by _117_ countries and it states that the Avengers' shall no longer be a private organization." Wanda slid the large book across the table and towards Rhodes when he silently asked to see it. "Instead … they'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Bucky couldn't help it; he scoffed under his breath with a shake of his head. He leaned back in his chair as he stared at the Accords, unable to believe this was happening. He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to listen on with the conversation, not imputing what he really wanted to say.

Steve, on the other hand, spoke out what they were both thinking, "The Avengers' were formed to make the world a better place." He said, knowing that if they sign these Accords, their rights to help people are exponentially limited. It's not something they should even begin to consider if they wanted to stay the team they wanted to. " _I_ feel that we've done that."

Secretary Ross just stared over at him with a poker-face, "Tell me, Captain," He began, speaking as seriously as he has done through this whole conversation, "Do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" He questioned, "Or that sister of yours? The woman who should have been incarcerated for her crimes the exact moment she was found last year." He wasn't playing games and you could tell that he clearly didn't like Ava given by the way he didn't say her name out loud and the way he said his words.

Steve could only stay silent but his fist did curl at the notion that his sister should have been imprisoned for the crimes she technically didn't commit. She hadn't been in the right state of mind – her actions were made by Hydra, forced upon by an organization that was the evil version of S.H.I.E.L.D. He wasn't liking this man one bit after only meeting him this one time – he could tell Bucky was feeling the exact same thing.

If the Secretary had seen their reactions, he didn't call on it because he simply continued, "If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes you can bet there would be consequences." He started walking back to the front of the table, the place he had started at before the meeting began. "Compromise. Reassurance. THAT'S how the world works. And believe me, _this_ -" He pointed towards the Accords, "-is the middle ground."

"So-" Rhodes was the first to speak, feeling as though he had to, "There are contingencies." He more stated than asked a question, placing his hand on the book in front of him. Out of everyone in the room, barring the Secretary, he probably had more experience with being involved with these types of things from his time span with the US Government.

Ross just gave a small nod, explaining further, "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords."

Steve looked behind his shoulder to a very surprisingly silent Tony Stark who just sat in his chair away from the table, looking down at the phone he fiddled with in his hand. The super soldier narrowed his eyes towards Tony, trying to figure him out. It wasn't like Tony to stay silent or bow down the Government's wishes – never. Not even when they were looking for Loki – he was all for hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's mainframe to figure out what their endgame was. He practically lived for disobeying orders. By this point, there would usually be a lot of back chatting and quips being made but there was just … _nothing._

Tony just stayed quietly to himself … until he said the only one thing he's said since arriving today, "We'll talk it over." He said for everyone, knowing a full decision shouldn't be made on the spot, even though he's already made up his mind, personally.

The Secretary of State took that answer for everyone's response. Having nothing else to say, he started making his journey away from the table with his two men following close behind. Before he could fully leave the room to the Avengers', there was someone who still wanted to ask a question on behalf of everyone.

Natasha.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?"

She slowly looked up from the table, gazing towards the Secretary's retreating back. Just by thinking for only a couple of minutes on what had just been brought to them, there was a lot to think about. There were pros and cons for each side and personally, she wanted to be on the side that kept them independent. Just as they have been for a while now. Although, there were other issues to think about now that needed to be discussed further as a team. This wasn't going to be an easy thing to agree on, she predicted, given by the looks on her teammate's faces.

Everyone else looked up with Natasha and now stared at the Secretary too. They wanted to know just as much as she did on what would happen to them in that sense if they disobeyed on the better world decision.

Secretary Ross only said three words before leaving the room in complete silence.

" _Then you retire."_

 **Note: The next chapter will only have the Cleveland scene which probably won't be too long. The chapter after that will be about the same length as this one or more.**

 **If I don't update before New Year's Day (I'm hoping I will** **Saturday** **) – HAVE A HAPPY 2017 … and let's hope it doesn't suck as much as 2016 has been. Anyone else heard that Carrie Fisher has also just passed away today … WHAT! NO! RIP Carrie Fisher and let the force be with you!**

 **Follow, Fav, and Review!**


	5. 2 Months Ago

**I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for a chapter with Ava in it … your welcome :)**

 **Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | 2 Months Ago**

"Miss?" A small hesitant voice appeared in the swirl of darkness, "Miss, wake up!"

A woman was lying on her back in the middle of an alleyway and behind a dumpster. Her clothing was matted with dust, mud, and blood from top to bottom. It was a young child that was trying to wake her up who was probably around eleven to twelve years old. He kept shaking the woman's shoulder. He had a skateboard lying next to him accompanied by a helmet – he had been at the play park with his friends. It was in the middle of his journey home that he discovered the woman poking out from behind the garbage bin.

"Miss, you have to wake up, please!" The little boy tried again with another few hard shoves into her shoulder. He sounded a little panicked, probably not entirely sure on what he should be doing. Part of him was saying run home and tell his mother but he didn't want to leave the woman alone in the state that she was. Her clothes looked liked something out of a horror movie – her entire clothing was covered in muck and a lot of unpleasant stuff. Her jacket probably looked worse for wear and luckily for the woman, the kid didn't see her metal hand since it was covered by a black glove.

After another few seconds, she finally started showing signs of waking up. Her eyes began fluttering and slight movement quickly appeared around her limbs. A low groan left the woman's lips as her senses started coming back to life. Ignoring the child, she tried to get up from where she was currently lying on a pile of garbage bags. Her brain was still a little incoherent to what was really happening so it wasn't exactly an easy task. She could barely lift her upper body from the ground.

"No, you shouldn't get up, you're hurt."

"I'm fine." Her voice slurred a little but her words felt uncharacteristically snappy. Her entire form felt drowsy for some reason. She tried to stand up as the boy inched away from her, but she stumbled back onto the ground and on her back again. Her body felt heavy and hard to move – she didn't know why. Her head was still gunked up but she had enough sense to know that a child should be nowhere near her right now. She was unpredictable, dangerous. She couldn't completely understand why, it was just a strong feeling in her gut, "You should go, kid."

"But you're-"

"Go!" She commanded, feeling her voice getting stronger as the darkness slowly went away.

The woman didn't mean to scare the kid but probably had done given the power behind her voice. The boy had only tried to help but he shouldn't be around her all the same. She brought her human hand up to her face to cover it as the morning light bounced off her face.

She vaguely heard a pair of small feet running away from her.

As reality and her strength started setting in, she finally glanced up from the ground to gather where she was. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep with someone next to her. She felt safe and warm, but she couldn't remember right now who that person was.

Groaning, she suddenly felt a numbed pain in her side. Lifting the cotton tank top, she noticed five deep needle marks running up her body. From observing the scatter pattern, she could determine that they were likely fired towards her from a distance from a type of tranquilizer gun. The needle marks looked big enough that they could be used on large animals.

Trying to regain her central balance, she started using the building wall behind to help bring her up to a standing position. That's why she must be feeling drowsy, someone must have shot her with something, a drug of sorts. But, why? She didn't know, all she knew is that it couldn't be good.

Gripping onto the nearby bin, she looked down to assess if her body had any more damage done to it. She was shocked to find that she wasn't necessarily injured – mostly just covered in blood that from what she could tell, wasn't her own. The smell of garbage cans and rubbish had a potent smell to it – no doubt making her smell the same given by how much time she had probably been lying in it.

She gazed down at her hand, both the human and metal one covered in a glove. They were covered in crusted blood that looked maybe a day old, possibly a little more. How long had she been lying in this dingy alleyway, to begin with? None of this made any sense, and neither did her location. How did she end up here? _Where_ was here?

Her thought process was suddenly overrun by a numbing pain clouding her mind as screaming voices echoed in her ears.

" _We need to stop her!"_

" _ELIMINATE HER!"_

" _She's too much of a liability and she knows too much!"_

She cursed as the voices dimmed in the background but the aftermath was still pounding in her ears. She had to shake her head to get it back into shape. All the voices had been male and from the tone, they sounded very 'high ranking' if that was a proper term. Overall, she didn't recognize any them off hand. She lowered her head into her hands while trying to remember most of all, who she was.

 _Winter … Avery Rogers … Darkness …_

The three names circled around in her head and never gave a straight answer. It wasn't as though she had forgotten everything but for something reason, it was like there were two sets of memories in her head and she didn't understand why. It felt as though she had been wiped clean, but she had come back fighting but wasn't finished. The memories she could recall right now were from Winter and Avery Rogers. The other one she was unclear on. _Darkness._ Every time she tried to think of it, everything just turns blank. It was like a solid wall was preventing her from seeing the other side where the memories were.

Why would she refer to herself as _Darkness_?

And there was a man; the one she kept seeing in the last memory of having slept next to someone. _James._ That was his name, she was sure of it, but she couldn't discern right now what the rest of his name was. That's all she could remember right now for some reason. Why wasn't she still there if that's the last thing she remembered? Why was she even in an alleyway to begin with? There were so many questions running around in her head that she didn't know what answers she should seek out first.

Before she could even think of anything else, out of nowhere, something appeared before her again but in the form of a vision. Her eyes clouded in pictures accompanied by a storm of sounds.

 _She stood in a bedroom, gazing out of a window with her head tilted to the side. Her eyes narrowed, surveying the world outside. She didn't blink and her face remained neutral, blank and unemotional. She wore a pair of black pants, a dark green tank top and a black jacket that looked a little big on her. It wasn't hers, but for some reason, she didn't know that. She just grabbed whatever was lying around and threw it on as if she were stuck in a trance._

 _Outside showed no ounce of sunlight on the horizon and it was still clearly the middle of the night._

 _She didn't know why she was just standing there, but she was._

 _In the bed behind her, some movement caught her attention. She didn't turn around to the noise but just observed from where she stood to look out of the window. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she tilted her head a little more, hearing the body motions become more prominent._

 _It was Bucky._

 _The man shifted on the bed as he started waking up from his slumber and immediately he felt the loss of heat from his side. Blurrily opening his eyes, he came to note how alone he was with no Ava sleeping beside him. Something she had been doing when they both fell asleep. After regaining his senses, he was relieved to see that she was still there, just standing by the window. Although, he didn't perceive why she may be out of bed._

" _Av, what are you doing up?" He asked tiredly, rubbing his fingers in the corners of his eyes, yawning. The fact that she was fully dressed in the middle of the night didn't really occur to him. It was only an hour or two after they had gone to bed, it's why he was so tired, to begin with. As he started climbing out of bed, he stumbled into a pair of jeans and the long-sleeved shirt that was lying beside the bed._

 _Bucky started getting confused when he received no answer from her. She just stood there while not giving any indication she had even heard his voice. He started feeling worried for her as he began approaching from behind._

" _Hey-" He went to place his hand on her hip but before he could even lay a finger on her, a metal hand stopped him in his spot. He didn't even get a chance to react to her next move. The next thing he knew; his arm was being twisted behind him back and his body was thrown across the room. His head snapped back into the wall as he collided with it, a large gash covering his temple. The impact threw him into a dizzy spell._

 _It took a moment for him to realize what was happening because everything was feeling blurred. "Ava?"_

 _The last thing Bucky remembered was seeing her emotionless face staring at him before something hit him around the back of his head. Her last words replayed in his head for many months to come…_

" _ **That's not my name."**_

Coming out of the vision; she was breathing heavily and bent on her knees. She felt sick. Coupled with the feeling of horror, she didn't feel good at all. She had just witnessed one of the many terrible memories from everything that had happened to her in her life.

"What have I done?"

 **~ X ~**

 **Follow, Fav, and REVIEW!**

 **I saw another writer doing this and I think it's an amazing idea. I want to be more engaged with you guys so I was thinking since it's the first of 2017, ah! I was hoping everyone could give a quick review saying what part of 'The Evolving Winter' series you've loved the most so far? The saddest moment? And the moment that shocked you the most? (You can add more categories if you like! (** _ **smiley face**_ **))**

 **I would absolutely LOVE to hear what everyone has to say! To say a massive thank you there will be another chapter up by tomorrow morning! The draft is done and all that needs to be completed is the editing.**

 **HAPPY NEW YEARS DAY EVERYONE!**


	6. Cleveland

**Someone from Saviours is coming back … can anyone guess who it is based on this chapter?**

 **I had an absolute killer headache when I woke up this morning – the reason why this chapter wasn't up then. But here we are, finally got the editing done.**

 **Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | Cleveland**

The sound of a spoon clattered against the side of a breakfast bowl as the man holding the utensil chewed through his previous bite. He was sitting at his dining room table, alone. The place was a mess around him in the form of piles and piles of paper, random things littered about, and broken ornaments. You could tell that he had been living alone for quite some time now, keeping to himself as much as he could.

This man was a former Coronel for the organization _HYDRA_ – Coronel Vasily Karpov.

The man was in his late thirties, early forties with straw-like brown hair. He had rounded pencil gray eyes with a pointed nose and thin lips. He wore clothing that a man with nothing better to do would wear; an old jumped covering a two-day old plaid shirt. His jeans also looked worse for wear but it was noticeable that he probably didn't do much shopping. The only time he went out was probably to grab food and that's it.

It was when he took another bite from his breakfast that a sudden noise caught his attention – the sound of a skidding car, closely followed by a loud crunch just outside his door. His mouth paused, part of the cereal still uneaten in his mouth. His ears turned sharp when he slowly looked around to the front. His head was specifically looking to the windows that were covered with closed blinds.

He dropped the spoon into the bowl as he slowly got up from his seat, forgetting about the breakfast as he swallowed the last of it in his mouth. He cautiously went over to the blinds in his living him and leaned closer. He peeked through a miniature gap to see what was going on outside. The only thing he focused on was the sleek black sedan attached to the backside of his old convertible. It looked as though the driver of the sedan hadn't been looking where he or she was driving.

Standing by the sedan was a young-looking woman, probably ranging towards her late twenties with long and dark curly hair. The Coronel could only see the woman's backside but could still assess whether he should engage or not. She looked slightly nervous and panicked, putting a hand to her mouth as she noticed what damage she had caused to the stranger's car.

She looked genuine, but even the Coronel knew that looks could be deceiving.

The Coronel sharply stepped away from the blinds when the woman turned towards his house. He thought she had been looking straight at him. He took another step back from the window, hoping the woman would just do what many others would do and run away from their mistakes. He's made a lot of enemies in the past and there were a lot of people out for his blood – how was he to know whether he would face a genuine apologetic woman or a bullet? After everything, he didn't know whether he could take that chance or not.

"Hello?" Her voice pierced through the thin walls of his bungalow. It was an old place for the area and pretty run down, but it did the job of keeping the strangers away. Through the tiny gap still in his blinds, he watched as the woman began walking up to his door. The black high heels under her feet clicked away as she approached. She was small compared to him at around 5'8" while he was 6'3".

The shadow of her figure passed by the window, "Hello? Is this your car out front?" She voiced louder this time, knowing someone was inside because she noticed someone peeping through the blinds.

The Coronel began slowly making his way to the door but didn't intend to open it. He stayed silent as his eyes shifted towards the handgun resting on top of the table by his door. He kept glancing between the weapon and his door, trying to decide whether opening it would be a good idea.

"I jumped the curb." The woman continued, sounding apologetic but also hopeful. "Maybe we could … talk this out ourselves? If – If you wanna call the cops, that's okay, too I guess-" She was cut mid-sentence by a sharp male voice with a Russian dialect.

"-No," The Coronel couldn't let that happen. No cops could be involved since he was technically a wanted fugitive. Getting the police involved would not go well for him. He kept his cool, willing to do anything for this to go away, even get rid of the woman permanently. He's done worse things during his tenure as the soldier he was. "No cops."

Making his final decision; he started walking towards the front door and paused right next to it, making a final decision on whether he was making the right decision or not. He made his choice within a matter of moments and slowly lowered his hand onto the fortified steel lock keeping his door tightly shut. Grabbing onto the knob, he wrenched it to the right so it no longer held the door tight in its place. It was now free to be opened after the common front door lock was taken off its hook.

As the door began to open; the Coronel's reflexes had no time to react as a surprise attack hit him.

The last thing the man felt before blacking out was the sheer force of a tire iron being bludgeoned into the side of his head.

…

 _SMASH … SMASH … SMASH …_

The woman continuously smashed through a plasterboard wall in the basement, wielding a sledgehammer in her hands. Bits of the rubble crumpled to the ground in large chunks. It took a couple of minutes but eventually, there was a large enough hole in the wall to see through to the other side. It was an empty cubby hole with nothing but a medium sized chest sitting in the middle of it. It was clear by the location of this chest, it had never meant to be found by anyone other than the owner of it.

The sledgehammer hit to the ground with a loud bang.

Coronel Karpov was straining against his restraints, his wrists bloody and scarred as the rope continued to burn away at his skin. He was strung up by his feet, upside down, his hands tied behind his back and leaning against a pole and a piece of thick wood. Underneath him from a laundry basin that was slowly filling up with water. The tap was gradually filling it beside his ear - the flow of liquid bringing him closer and closer to death. He still had a couple of minutes before his breathing would be completely submerged beneath the water.

He could only watch as this unknown woman climbed out of the secret room with his hidden chest of treasures. These valuables were kept hidden deep for a reason – it's everything to do with HYDRA and everything he had previously worked on during his employment. He assumed the woman couldn't read or decrypt any of his stuff and that's the reason why he told her where everything was. He also didn't want to die, but if it was for a cause, of course he would.

The woman walked forwards with the box to the standing table in the middle of the room and tossed all the contents out. In the end, there was a pile of files, photos and a dirty velvet red book with a black star engraved in the middle. All the pieces of paper had a clear HYDRA logo located in the corner, noting which organization the information belonged to. It even appeared on either side of the chest in a bold black color that could be seen through the thin layer of dust.

She reached forwards and grabbed the top file, putting aside the red book for now. She flipped to the first page which showed a single photo of the very man she had strung up like a chicken. "Hmm." She hummed, finally talking for the first time since Karpov had woken up, "You were very cute back in the day, Coronel." She had a slight accent to her voice, but if she tried hard enough, she could pass off as an American. "Now you just look like a shriveled-up fool." The photo was probably taken around twenty years ago, given by the difference of the new and old.

Pursuing through the files further, she couldn't find the thing she was looking for. For years, she had been working on something, keeping in the dark, and planning down to the very last detail. It wasn't until a couple of months ago that she gathered intel that now was the time to really emerge herself out of the dark and complete her plan. There were several reasons why she was doing this – and those are the only things that matter to her right now.

This was something she wasn't letting go until the mission was complete and she got her revenge.

"Mission Report: December 16th, 1991." She commenced into her questioning, not wasting any time. She didn't so much as peek over to the man as she continued looking through the dozens of files in front of her.

Karpov could feel the blood in his body rushing down to his head - it felt heavy and full. It wasn't a very nice feeling. "Who are you?" He questioned back, not answering her question. He wasn't about to be bested by a measly female since it would be an insult to his very faith. He watched as she settled the folder back onto the table before picking up the special book instead.

Her head turned up towards him and she looked him straight in the eye, "Katherine." She answered with barely any tone to her voice. "But mostly, I just go by Kathy." Even though you could discern what her voice may have been feeling, you could tell by her facial features that there was a tick of anger still there. He hadn't answered her question. "Now, I will repeat my question - mission report: December 16th, 1991."

"How did you find me?"

The woman was increasingly growing impatient and no longer did she look like the nice woman that had accidently bumped into the back of a man's car. Above that, she decided to answer his question anyway.

"When S.H.I.E.L.D fell … Black Widow released HYDRA files to the public." She said, "Millions of pages and much of it was encrypted. It wasn't easy to decipher but I have … _experience_. Not so much patience these days, though. A man or woman can accomplish anything when they put their minds to it."

Karpov could see the blinding rage that was circling within her eyes and did the stupid thing of doing the exact opposite of what she wanted. "What do you want?" He repeated a question she had already explained twice now.

The little light coming from the basement window shone against her face, highlighting the freckles covering the tops of her cheekbones and her pale skin. Looking closely, she was likely to be in her early thirties instead of the late twenties he had originally thought. Her hair was still dark-looking but probably a more a rich hardwood color.

" _ **Mission Report: December 16**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 1991."**_

It's not that Karpov just didn't want to answer, he couldn't because if he did, that would be betraying his faith in HYDRA. Also, he simply didn't remember every single mission he had been a part of. Especially those being asked by a one single date reminder. 1991 was many years ago - how was he supposed to remember all the way back then? Especially as he's been involved with hundreds of HYDRA missions?

" _Go … to … hell."_ He spat while making no move to even try and answer her question, even for the sake of his own life. He was breathing heavily at this point, the water so very close to the top of his eyebrows. The water continued to stream down the side of his body, crawling up his shoulder to the pool beneath him.

The air turned silent, the only sound coming from the water.

Katherine stared at him for a moment with her nose crinkled from the frustration the man was giving her. What was it with HYDRA agents and not being complete wusses? It was never an easy; ask a question – get an answer. There was always a struggle. She strode towards the basin where the man was being strung above. Leaning down towards his face, she placed her hands either side of his head on the edges of the sink.

Unintentionally; Karpov started struggling harder in his restraints because he was no doubt she was about to so something to him. Much to his inner surprise, she simply turned off the tap that had slowly been drowning him. He noticed the displeasure beneath her skin coming out in full force. Though, it was clearly being held back as much as it could.

"HYDRA _deserves_ its place on the ash heap after everything it's done to my family." It looked as though she was itching for blood because there was clear anger in her voice this time, "So _your_ death would not bother me one bit. But, I'd have to use this book…" She raised the red book up in front of him, "…and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don't look forward to killing innocents, but if I must to get what I want, then I must. You, my friend, would only be dying for what little pride you still have left."

Part of her expected an answer in return, but in the end, all she received was nothing but a resistant silence. Sighing with a shake of her head as if she were disappointed in him, she reached forwards and twisted the tap on once again. However, this time, she turned it all the way to it's fastest setting.

Coronel Karpov didn't move a muscle having accepted his fate for a cause he had been a part of since he was a teenager. Slowly but surely, the water levels rose within seconds of each other. It wasn't long until his eyes were being covered and all that was left was his nose and mouth. The last thing that came out of his mouth had been fully expected given who he had been tethered to.

" _ **Hail … HYDRA."**_

The last physical sound that came from him were the struggles his body made in the water. The lack of oxygen quickly pulled him towards the darkness and it took a minute or so but finally, the water stilled as the last air bubbles reached the water's surface. The air grew still as another life dies in a dirty old basement.


	7. Two Sides of a Coin

**CHAPTER DEDICATION** _**CJ/Oddball:**_ _An_ asnwer _to your review is also down below._

 **I think I'll keep Katherine a surprise twist for now, hehe, but yes she will be taking Zemo's place.**

 **Now, Ally Maria Halt. I DO want to continue it at some point and it's on a temporary hiatus, for how long, I honestly have no idea. Past the episode I've half-way written, I haven't watched anymore Doctor who from that point on. I might start it up again soon since I only want the fanfic to go on for the one season Ally is currently in + the special with David Tennant. I don't have a plan to ever put it under dis-continued though.**

 **Thank you for participating in my new fanfic tradition!**

 **This chapter is dedicated to you for leaving an amazing comment every chapter!**

* * *

 **Captain America: Civil War | Shattering Relations | Two Sides of a Coin**

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have." Rhodes butted back at Sam, trying to solidify his side of the argument. They were battling on the decision of this Sokovia Agreement and have been doing so with repeat arguments for the last couple of minutes. Everyone around them stayed quiet, either listening intently to what each of them had to say or keeping the fact that they've already decided to themselves.

Ever since the Secretary left, everything and everyone had been feeling either tense or thoughtful about what had just been discussed about their time as a team. Overall, there wasn't yet a full consensus on a unanimous decision. There were obviously big issues to really think about on both sides of the equation but which was the option that would allow them to really benefit and stay as they are; a team?

"Fine," Sam rose his hands up into a defending position but he still wasn't going to back down. "So, let's say we agree on this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of criminals?" He wasn't about to agree to something that might end him up in a cell for making decisions to save a life. Even though he had worked for the government for the better part of his life, the last few years have really given him another view into what really happens behind the scenes. Meeting and becoming an Avenger has really changed on how he thinks in general and for the better, of course.

" _ **117**_ countries want to sign this, Sam." Rhodes boldly emphasized on the number of countries, "Seriously? You're just being like ' _No, that's cool. We got it'_ " He did a mock imitation of Sam acting like a cool guy who couldn't care about any other side than his own, adding in the wave of his arms to prove the point.

Tony let out a tired sigh and brought a hand up to his face, covering it as the squabble filtered through his banging head. He had a headache, one that didn't seem to want to go away. It came down on him shortly after discovering more about the young boy that had been killed during the Sokovia attacks. There had been so much to it that his head was paying the price for learning the information he had. He understood where both Rhodes and Sam were coming from but he had already made his own decision on the outcome, one that he was sure a couple of people in the room were seriously considering, just as he had.

It wasn't a light decision to just make on the spot.

Sam just shook his head in response, scoffing loudly, "How long are you going to play both sides?-" His voice had raised a little more and was a lot louder than when he first started the argument. Eventually, this disagreement finally caused someone else in the room to interrupt any more counter attacks.

It was Vision, the one who was _technically_ the youngest in human terms. Although some could argue he was older then all of them combined given by the jewel encrusted into his forehead. "-I have an equation." He stated a little hesitancy in his voice from speaking in the middle of their argument. Although, he knew his words would be of interest to everyone in the room so he pushed it away quickly as everyone turned to him.

Vision sitting on one end of the nearby couch with Wanda sitting close to him in the middle of it. He leaned against the side arm, his fingers fiddling with a small chess piece he had grabbed from the game laid out on the small front table. Instead of sitting at the business table, they were all now gathered around in another part of the building. The area that's more of a comfortable living/kitchen area. It was the main go-to place to talk to each other without feeling bombarded by anything big.

Although, it probably didn't feel like that right now given the circumstances.

"Oh," Sam couldn't help but sarcastically roll his eyes, "This will surely clear it up." He was frustrated that no one seemed to even partially agree with him other than Steve and Bucky, the two American Heroes, his best friends. He knew which side they were on for this dispute. He understood that there were over a hundred countries that wanted them to sign but it would also be taking away their rights in certain areas. They might not be able to perform the best that they can. He didn't want to be at fault for someone dying if the Governments' weren't going to send them in for a mission.

Tony who just kept his head looking down and his eyes lightly shut as everyone in the room waited for Vision to start talking and reveal to them what this equation was.

Vision cleared his throat, feeling the majority of eyes in the room lay on him, "In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially." He revealed, the data already piled nicely in his head and in the correct order. Everyone was listening intently. Steve had to pause himself since he was currently reading through the several hundred-paged agreement. "During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." Since he was a combination of Jarvis, Ultron's creation and the golden gem stuck in his head, he remembered everything he had been as Tony Stark's personal and intelligent AI.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Bucky questioned with no anger or defense in the question, only curiosity. It would make sense if something like that was happening since it was a good logical conclusion. There had to be a balance in the world to keep it stable. Well, as stable as it's ever going to be, that is. There were also times that Avery had mentioned things like that happening if it should ever come to pass.

The sudden thinking of his lost love suddenly made him feel down and partially dead inside. He looked away, finding a cloud outside to be more interesting at that very moment that the conversation to make his mind come off her.

"I'm saying…" Vision said slowly while taking a quick pause, not wanting to pass around blame because, in this equation, the blame would also be because of him too. In any sense, the blame wouldn't solve anything and nothing that's happened so far could have been stopped. It probably would have happened eventually. Anything can happen; the present and future will just have to adapt to it's new up and comings to counter those changes. "…I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very _strength invites challenge_ and _challenge incites conflict_. And conflict … _conflict breeds catastrophe_." Looking down, he finished, "Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Though he didn't really state which side he was with, it was clear that he was sticking with the data accessible to him.

Rhodes couldn't help it but exclaim what was, maybe, 75% true, "Boom." His head glanced back over to Sam with the words as Vision supposedly declared he was on the side of signing the agreement. In response, Sam just shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. He still wasn't convinced signing their rights away would solve anything – if _anything_ , the agreement will make some aspects worse to deal with or handle in the upcoming future.

"Tony-" Natasha finally spoke up for the first time since the meeting ended, her head pointing towards the man lying on the couch. He looked tired and weary. It looked as though he had been ignoring everything that was going on around him. She watched as his hand dropped from his face like it's lost the power to stay up and cover it. His eyes opened a touch and they were aimed straight at her. "-You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

Steve muttered loud enough for everyone to hear before Tony even had a chance to speak, "It's because he's already made up his mind." Honestly, out of everyone, he had been sure that Tony would be the first one to say _hell no_ to this agreement lying in his lap. Strangely enough, it almost felt like it was a betrayal that Tony was going to side with the Governments and sign this unbinding contract that would hold them in a web. He shook his head, eyes, and heart full of disappointment at the decision his friend was making.

Tony's attitude towards the entire thing hadn't changed from the moment Secretary Ross brought up the agreement or till now. Some things Steve could tell what was going through his friend's mind but the one thing he couldn't understand was why the man was acting the way he was. Natasha was the one questioning on why he wasn't acting like himself. It was like something else was plaguing Tony's mind, something that was more important than the book he had lying in his hands.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony drawled, rolling his eyes at the comment the Captain made in regards to his knowing decision. He slowly got up from his personal couch while nursing the back of his head where most of the pain was coming from. He decided to impute them of what he was trying to deal with, "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache." He got louder as he moved into the kitchen off to the side, wanting a coffee to keep his eyes open and awake. "That's what's going on, Cap." The usual level of his voice started returning to normal while adding a tickle of sarcasticness. "It's just pain and discomfort."

Turning his head away from then, he looked down at the sink. He practically growled with frustration when he saw a pet peeve of his waiting to be dealt with. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He near-enough snapped but it was mostly because of how tired he was. In the past few weeks, he's barely had any sleep that he could actually count as a good night nap. He grabbed the coffee grounder off to the side and turned around to the kitchen's island counter.

As the room was droned into silence, the only action came from Tony as he grabbed the phone from his pocket and stationed it on top of the bread basket. It was sitting on the edge of the island's counter and the phone was pointing towards the rest of the team. With one simple tap, a single hologram popped up for everyone to see, much like how the map had done when Secretary Ross was giving his presentation of horrible memories. The hologram featured a young black male that looked to be in his mid-twenties but it was quite possible that he could be younger than that.

Tony paused for a single moment and stared out into space as if he were waiting for someone to comment on who this young man was. Eventually, a sigh left his lips as he returned his attention back to the group when no one had spoken up. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid." He commented, thinking back to all the accomplishments he was able to find on this guy. A star pupil and one to look out for in his potential field. But then, that won't happen now, would it?

He's dead … because of the Avengers'.

Because of _him._

"A computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA and had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall." Tony put his strength into the coffee grinder as he continued, barely glancing up at them, "But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk." He pursed his lips, gritting his teeth, "To see the world, maybe be of service."

Everyone in the room seemed to suddenly realize where this might be heading and why Tony had been acting so strange the entire day since arriving with Secretary Ross. Silence drew on in the room of superheroes.

"Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what _I_ would do." His attention was far away from the grinder now, his head turning up towards the team with an almost desperate look in his eye, coupled with a bit of anger. It was pointed towards every one of the people in this room but mostly for himself. He understood that there were things that had gotten out of their control during that fight in Sokovia but to really dig into the lives that were truly lost that day, it really stung him. Never has he ever really done anything like that before. Sokovia had the biggest death toll in all the fights they've been in as of late. "He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. And guess where? … **Sokovia**." He started pouring the elements of his coffee together so the steam was piping hot when the water was poured.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose." He continued, keeping the same lines of emotion running through his tone, "But then, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were _kicking ass_." He threw paracetamol into his mouth and quickly drowned it down with a sip of his coffee, ignoring the burning hot feeling scalding the back of his throat. He had to cough a couple of times to rid the feeling away as he placed the cup back onto the countertop.

After gaining his ability to talk back, he started to pace towards the edge of the island and leaned his back against it. "There's no decision-making process here." He confidently told them, crossing his arms over his chest, "We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations and if we're boundary-less … we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony," Bucky was the one to finally speak up after his teammate had finished giving his input on what should happen. He understood what was happening, this was guilt and he knew it far too well, and so did Steve. But, it still doesn't change the fact of the matter that this agreement would most likely completely tie their hands, one way or another. "When someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony asked, not backing down from his previous statement.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions." Bucky clearly said back to him, "This document, it just shifts the blame and ties our hands at the same time."

Rhodes shook his head from where he sat, now leaning against one of the couches, "I'm sorry, Bucky," He started, seeing his point while trying to solidify what both he and Tony had been saying throughout this entire discussion. "But that is dangerously arrogant. This is the _United Nations_ we're talking about." He carried on even as the super soldier shook his head, "It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D, it's not Hydra-" Steve was the one to cut him off before he could continue further.

"-No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change."

"That's good." Tony stated, inserting himself in also with his opinion on the line, walking forwards to the rest of the team, "That's why I'M here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you _chose_ to do that." Steve countered, proving his point with his friend's own example, "If we sign this then we _surrender_ our right to chose." He shut the agreement lying on his lap, no longer wanting to even read anymore because he was adamant about not signing this, not one bit. He was sure his own sister would have agreed with him on that too. "What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go and they don't let us?" He paused, trying to get that through their heads, "We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still _our own_."

Tony looked at him seriously, "If we don't do this now, it's just gonna be done to us later on." He warned, knowing exactly how these people work after having worked with them for numerous years, and hacked a lot of their records in earlier years. "That's the fact and it won't be pretty." His eyes flickered over to the only teenager in the room and she clearly noticed.

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda said softly, understanding where this was heading by the direction of his eyes coming to her. Her actions alone had caused the deaths of seven people in Lagos, Nigeria. There were sure to be a lot of people wanting justice, for her head to be on a stick. She wasn't much of an Avenger yet and wasn't as high profile as the others. The world could do without her being in it as far as the victim's family members were concerned. She was suddenly thankful that Pietro wasn't in the States right now and probably wouldn't for a while yet. She wasn't about to make him catch a flight back to the United States when he was on his own mission. She was the one who wanted to stay and now she'll have to pay the price, whatever that may be.

"We would protect you." Vision vowed the instant her words stopped, his voice strong and adamant. He glanced over at her as she did to him. There was a gratefulness in her eyes and he returned to her a small smile. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He felt strangely very protective of her.

Silence echoed in the room.

" _Maybe Tony's right."_

Natasha suddenly surprised them all by saying those exact three words without hesitation in her tone. Tony's head was the first to snap over to the Black Widow, his eyebrows reaching sky high at the statement the former spy had just told them. Natasha didn't continue right away but did talk slowly as if she were thinking about what she was to say at the same time. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"-Aren't you the same woman who told the Government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam wondered out loud with shock, staring at the redheaded woman weirdly. It started to feel like everyone was experiencing opposite day today.

Natasha felt the need to defend herself, "I'm just … reading the terrain." Her eyes flickered over to Bucky and Steve who certainly didn't like what her decision was, "Over the years, we have made some _very_ public mistakes and what we need to do is win their trust back."

This was supposed to be a serious conversation but Tony had to backtrack it for a moment, his ears still unable to believe what had just been said about him from their very own Natasha Romanoff. "Hold on, hold on. I'm sorry but … did I just mishear you or did you actually … agree … with ME?"

Looking up at Tony, she started to second-guess herself after all, "Oh, I want to take it back now." Letting a cringe form on her lips, looking as though she was disgusted and horrified with herself.

"No, no, no…"

Bucky turned away from them again and shook his head. He couldn't believe it, more than half of everyone here seemed to be in favor of this agreement and didn't they see what was happening? This stack of papers was going to tear up their team, their friendship.

His fingers reached up to the necklace hidden underneath his shirt where the engagement ring was still hanging. And again, he couldn't help but wonder and fear where Avery was right this second. It's been too long since she went missing and he longed to hold her in his arms once again. He had Steve with him but still, his heart was feeling empty and alone. They needed to find a way to find her – to get her back.

He glanced over to Steve who was staring down at his phone, ignoring everyone as they continued to talk, just like him.

Shaking his head after having enough of being here, he got up from his seat without another word and walked away, vaguely saying that he had to leave. He wasn't going to continue with this conversation because clearly everyone had already made up their mind. So, no more discussion was needed to be made. They were on two sides of a coin and sooner or later one is going to disappear. He just hoped they were all going to be on the same side and make it through like they've always seemed to be able to do.

 **~ Author Note ~**

 **Sooo … long time no see, huh?**

 **Well … there's a few reasons why this chapter wasn't two weeks ago when I wanted it too. It was because I just wasn't feeling as happy and I think a part of me just gave up, to be honest. In the end, only one amazing person decided to leave me a comment on the little yearly tradition I wanted/hoped to start with everyone back in chapter 5. (This person does every chapter, but this one was special to me) Thank you so much** _ **CJ/Oddball:**_ **! And thank you to those few people who take the time to leave me a comment too every once in a while, you're amazing people, thank you so much also.**

 **I think a part of me hoped** _ **way**_ **too much to expect more that one or two people would actually leave me a comment for this new tradition I wanted to start. But, no worries, I'm used to disappointment so … I'll get over it and continue on.**

 **Anyway, the next chapter should be up by next Sunday night/Monday morning and it'll completely step past Peggy's funeral (since she died back in Saviours) and go straight to the UN meeting. There will be some original scenes included in there too so don't worry. Dawn of a New Day will also be updated by then too.**

 **As usual – follow, fav, and review.**


	8. Author's Note - Nothing Bad!

Hey, everyone!

Long time no update, huh?

Being completely honest, I've been going through a lot of personal stuff lately that I just haven't had the inspiration to continue with writing or anything else I used to enjoy. Also. I've been experiencing a lot of writer's block with what the next chapter should be for Shattering Relations, among other stories. Don't worry, this isn't one of those author's notes saying I've discontinued this story, no, this is me hoping for some suggestions everyone would like to see. I'm playing with the idea of an original chapter between Bucky and Steve, talking about Avery and I know everyone wanted to see some more of Wanda and Natasha, so I'm also thinking of giving them some coverage too. I would like to include flashbacks that I haven't already written - thinking back to the good-old-times kind of thing or for Wanda and Natasha, what it was like for them with Winter. I already have a few ideas in mind but does anyone have anything specific they'd like to see? Just like in Saviours, if I go along with your suggestion, you will get a full dedication to the chapter.

I know it's been a year and a half +, but if you're still hanging around with me then I am forever grateful because I know I've been away for so long. I'm really excited to bring Avery into Infinity war and I hope you guys are too ;)

Lisa Anne.


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